—Artist Feature—
Lindsey Price
A Visual Paradise
By Alexa Bouhelier-Ruelle
Lindsey Price, an artist and designer living and working in Los Angeles, was raised in Boston, Massachusetts, and studied at an all-girls boarding school in Wellesley. She received her BFA in Photography and Digital Media from the California Institute of the Arts. Her current artistic practice concentrates on collage, design, and animation and reflects people’s innermost desires, fantasies, and dreams.
These large-scale, experimental collages are sourced from a variety of magazine cutouts throughout the decades and are composed both digitally and by hand. The imagery—inspired by retrofuturism, psychedelia, brutalist architecture, and vintage fashion—envisions possible dimensions for a harmonious, matriarchal future. Here & There Magazine met with the artist to talk about her visual paradise in which people can escape and reimagine themselves.
What first attracted you to collage?
I started as a painter and then made my way into photography. I was looking for a medium where I could use all my skills and interests in one place. I've always been interested in art as a general form. I started getting into design and animation while I was in college, and I discovered collage allowed me to work with multiple mediums.
What appeals to me most about collage is that it lets me take on the role of an architect to create and build my own worlds. It’s a mix of the old and the new in a future context. It’s about turning ‘what we could have been’ into ‘what we can become.’
What role does architecture play in your work?
Whenever someone asks if I could do life over, I always say that I would have studied architecture instead of art. Architecture creates differentiation within a space, adding moments of quiet as well as juxtapositions to nature. There’s a push-and-pull in such spaces much like dreams. What do we have without structure?
What is your creative process? From the first draft to the finished piece.
It’s a process of trial and error, and when it fits, it fits. My work reflects my current mindset. My environment and what happens in my life can often dictate how a piece comes out. In that way, they’re a development of my own psyche. There’s always a notion that I need to see through until the end. Once I work through it and see the visual outcome, it becomes more evident, but along the way, I’m not entirely sure. The pieces I put together guide the outcome.
"I identify with the women in my work; they're a representation of me. By putting myself into my work, I try to focus on feminism and a future where women are both valued and in charge."
Why did you choose to focus solely on female futures?
I identify with the women in my work; they're a representation of me. By putting myself into my work, I try to focus on feminism and a future where women are both valued and in charge. What if the world looked like this? What would that society be like? I went to an all-girls boarding school for high school, and I grew up surrounded by strong women who taught us we could do anything. I want to explore a future where men and women are treated equally. It’s an exploration of the divine concept where women have the choice, control, and power. It’s a place where we can all find beauty and diversity in the unexpected.
What’s the main message behind your work?
I'm interested in creating a combination of places, people, and moments in a culture that develops into a story of visual harmony. These are, of course, surreal but they’re also aspirational. The imaginary world is just as real.
I think about not only my fantasies but those present in other people's minds. I like to think how a viewer’s environment and life experiences may alter how they see a piece. If I can leave the door open enough for interpretation, then I think a piece is successful.
Art has the power to traverse these environments, impact us as human beings, and inform our perception of the world around us.
By Alexa Bouhelier-Ruelle
Photos provided by artist
