about Lala
Lala Drona is an expanded painter who explores themes in the abject feminine.
Artist Bio
Lala Drona is a French-American painter and video artist, born in Denver, Colorado. She is currently pursuing an MA in Painting at the Royal College of Art. Lala Drona publishes and exhibits her work internationally, with her most recent exhibitions presenting videos and paintings that explore digital spaces and the female gaze at the Cité des Arts de Paris. Her body of work—including painting in the expanded field, videos, and writing—delves into themes of the abject feminine, womxn's medical experience, and the void of the digital world. Her art exists within a fictional universe and mythology that she establishes
online, then recontextualizes in the physical world through painting, performance, and sculpture. Drona's work challenges viewers to consider the impact of institutional structures on individual identity.
Past exhibitions and artist talks with...
ABOUT THE WORK
Extended Artist Statement
As a painter with a cosmetic disability resulting in the non-development of one breast, my practice is deeply influenced by personal experiences. Materially, I approach the canvas as a body, reflecting my own experiences and surgical interventions. Through ethnographic research and expanded painting techniques, I investigate the marginalisation of the abject feminine medical body, exploring themes of beauty, visibility, and absence.
The interplay of media and material in my work resonates with the concerns of trans*body theorists and artists, focusing on deconstructive and reconstructive processes. I integrate diverse materials—medical gowns, gauze, live cameras, and video screens—to support oil paint on canvas.
My paintings dismantle prevailing power structures by revealing womxn’s hidden experiences, such as undiagnosed medical conditions and childbirth, making the invisible visible and reshaping viewers’ perceptions.
My methods respond to Byung-Chul Han’s definition of modern beauty, characterised by non-resistance or smoothness. I subvert these ideals by adding friction through applying textured paint atop anti-smooth surfaces. Through incising and mending the canvas, I create holes that reflect the absence from my missing breast, symbolising a broader societal feminine absence. This invites viewers to look beyond the canvas, drawing them into a more sublime experience of beauty—beauty with stakes, beauty encountered in the abject.
Through these methods, I make challenging imagery more accessible, prompting a transformative confrontation between self and Other in those who witness the resolved work.
Artist CV
LALA DRONA
Exhibitions
April 2024 Virtual Reverence, Elios Gallery, Paris
May 2023 Collective Exhibition, "Proclaim Your Rights", painting, University of Lausanne, Switzerland
July 2022 Collective exhibition, "Video + Performance," Millennium Film Workshop Inc., Brooklyn New York
May 2022 Collective exhibition, "Inauguration," Espace Artistes Femmes, Lausanne Switzerland
March 2022 Collective exhibition, "Entre exode, ouverture et création," Powerhouse, Lausanne Switzerland
July 2020 Collective exhibition: First Responders, WOW Museum & Gallery, Texas USA
June 2020 Collective exhibition: Covideo-19 Notes, Undercurrent Gallery, Brooklyn, New York
(online)
October 2019 Bienvenue Art Fair, Galerie Arnaud Lefebvre, La Cité des Arts, Paris France
February 2019 Solo Exhibition: The Box, Konstepidemin, Gothenburg Sweden
May 2019 Live Art Performance: Experiment 88- Speak or Listen, Le Castel, Paris France
Aug/Sept 2018 Collective Exhibition: Lettres, Mots et Clics..., Galerie Art'et Miss, Paris France
July 2018 Solo Exhibition: The Power of the Click, Cultural Center Castilblanco, Seville Spain
May 2017
Public Radio Interview: 93.3 Beijing International Radio, Beijing China
October 2016 Collective Exhibition: Narcisse Obligé, Savonette Electrique, Montrueil France
October 2015 Collective exhibition: Je Suis..., La Maison des Ensembles, Paris France
December 2014 Solo exhibition: From the Bed to the Lab, Duo Gallery (changed to T2 Gallery), Paris France
May 2013 Solo Exhibition: Paris 210 days, The Botek, Paris France
Speaking engagements
Sept 2023 Artist Talk "The Monstrous Feminine in Cinema and Fine Art" by Lala Drona, TBC Switzerland
May 2023 Artist Talk "The Monstrous Feminine in Cinema and Fine Art" by Lala Drona, Soho House NYC
May 2021
Guest Panelist, "Viral/Sustainable: digital and environmental art today," Edinburg College of Art
Education & Research
2024-2025 Royal College of Art, Masters in Painting Programme, London UK
2024 Royal College of Art, Postgraduate Diploma in Art and Design, London UK
Jan 2023 - Jan 2024
Soho House International Artist Fellowship Recipient
June-July 2019 Artist in Residence, Kintai Arts, Kintai Lithuania
Jan-Feb 2019 Artist in Residence, Konstepidemin, Gothenburg Sweeden
Nov-Dec 2018 Artist in Residence, Buinho Association, Alentejo Portugal
Aug-Oct 2018 Artist in Residence, Huekito AIR Program, Paris France
June/July 2018 Artist in Residence, AiRGentum, Seville Spain
Oct 2016 - March 2017 Artist in Residence, Le Lavoir, Ivry Sur Seine France
June / July 2015 EICAR Summer Workshop: Directing and Screenwriting program, Paris France
Sept 2012 - May 2013
Université de Paris - Sorbonne: French Language and Civilisation, Paris France
Sept 2006 - May 2012 Bachelor of Arts University of Colorado at Boulder (Colorado, USA)
American Association of University Women Scholarship recipient
Publications
June 2024 Popout Zine, Issue: Tribe, publication of painting "The Womb"
Sept 2023 The Oxford Handbook of LGBTI Law, cover design is painting "Proclaim" by Lala Drona
Aug 2023 La Revue no°2 by Espace Artistes Femmes Magazine, Article "There are no great young artists,"by Lala Drona
March 2022
Dream House: A Collaborative Zine in Honor of the 50th, Anniversary of Womanhouse
April 2020 Unleashtheartist, Covod-19 Artist Platform Selection Paintings, videos
Oct 2019 Post(blank),Vol. IV: Post(stranger) Paintings
June 2019
Marietta Magazine Issue 2: Interview by Erica Schreiner and images of paintings
May 2019
Maintenant 13: Dada Journal, Painting: Triptych "The power of the click"
April 2019 The Poetry Society of New York: Spilt Milk
Article on triptych "The Power of the Click"
Oct 2018 Wotisart Magazine, Issue 19, Painting: Triptych "The Power of the Click"
2017 Verses of April, Lala & Giono, Videos: La Politesse, The Physical
2012 Fiction Brigade: A collection of Flash Fiction, Painting : I'm not your Reality
2010 Sub-scribe Magazine, Nostalgia (Fall 2010), Drawing: Outlander
Press
June 2024 Featured Interview, "Women in art – a sexist history to be rewritten" by Nathalie Koskinen
May 2024 Interview, Lala Drona on City of Muses Podcast, Paris
Underground Radio
Nov 2021 Interview, "Finding your inner femininity, channeling difference into empowerment with artist Lala Drona" on
Finding Your Wave Podcast
Mar 2021 Interview with Paris Lit up, "Spotlight" series
May 2020 Interview with Only Woke, "At Home" series
Oct 2019 Report covering The Female Gaze at the Bienvenu Art Fair,at the Cité des Arts Paris, by Mathieu Mielesko Balul
Oct 2019 Featured in article on The Gaze of a Parisienne, "The Gaze of a Woman Artist" by Florence Briat-soulié
Aug 2019
The Art Gorgeous Article "Three Fresh Takes on the Female Gaze" by Katya Lopatko
Feb 2019 Konstepidemin, Announcement of exhibition: "The Box"
July 2018 El Correo de Andalucia, Article on exhibition: The Power of the Click
July 2018 ABCdesevilla, Article on exhibition : The Power of the Click
2008-2011
Studied and lived 2 years in South America
2012
Relocated to Paris, France
2018-2019
Completed a year of art residencies across four European countries
2024
Relocated to London for Masters in Painting at the Royal College of Art