Lauren Kelley

Lauren Kelley’s animated works pairs a cast of tan plastic dolls with claymation to stage absurd, jittery and endearing narratives. True Falsetto is the Texas debut of a body of collage and animated works from Kelley’s series of short-stop-animation videos. Kelley employs humor when tinkering with ideals of youth, race and place. With a diverse cast of fleshy dolls Kelley wryly renders short stories that probe the malleable nature of innocent minds, the twisted characteristics of immature adults and the odd mechanics of self-sufficiency.

Frou Frou Conclusions is a short-stop-animation with a major sugar craving. Both videos focus on the obscure gap between what is acquired versus what is desired and the surreal pace of daily life. True Falsetto seductively interprets a state of immobility and craving through picnic and fly imagery. An invisible, earnest and romantic protagonist leads viewers through the preparations made in anticipation the most marvelous date that never occurs.  Both animated works are meditations on notions of economy. In each video hungry subjects and viewers are teased in an attempt to scrutinize concepts of desire, physical, emotional and social.