About the Exhibition
Fairfield University Art Museum is the first stop for The Tulip Family by artist Lauren Booth. The sculpture is a play on simplicity and the joy of a childhood drawing, juxtaposed with a humble nod to Henry Moore, Niki de Saint Phalle and Barbara Hepworth, all of whom influenced this sculpture.
The sculpture began as a collection of large aluminum frames of tulip outlines. They were stretched with steel mesh and filled with hundreds of tissue paper flowers. After two shows, the paper flowers were removed, and the frames were covered with outdoor fabric and displayed as part of Booth’s show at the Great Hollow Nature Preserve. After several seasons installed on along a forest path, the Tulips returned to Booth’s studio, the fabric faded and fraying. For the next two years, from her studio, Booth built upon the original armatures and the sculptures took shape growing from tape and cardboard to plaster and rasps. Once completed, the plaster Tulips were shown at the Wilson Museum in Vermont. Finally, The Tulip Family was cast in bronze and completed in 2023.
The Tulip Family is on loan from the artist and will be on display at Fairfield University from July 2024-July 2026.
About the Artist
Lauren Booth is a conceptual multimedia artist. Booth’s work is motivated by underlying ideas and concepts which take the form of various media such as resin, neon, fiber or bronze. The Tulip Family, currently on view on the Bellarmine lawn, explores the interplay of space, sunlight and texture, as well the idea of a sweet childlike drawing (a white tulip being her husband’s favorite flower) and the notion of being different and the same.
Born in California in 1969, Booth received her BA from USC and later studied sculpture in London. Her work has encompassed everything from a 16-foot tall illuminated dragon to traditional oil on canvas. Her work can be seen in the permanent collections of the Norman Foster Foundation in Madrid, Spain, The Mattatuck Museum in Connecticut, The Rothschild Collection at Windmill Hill, UK, and some of the top private collections around the world. In 2010 Booth moved to rural Connecticut, where she creates from her studio in the woods.
