Inside/Outside

A Perfect Match

Intro and interview written and conducted by writer Danielle Lazarin.

Lauren Pisano is a fine-art photographer based in Los Angeles, California. Lauren often uses herself as subject, creating self-portraits that invite viewers into moments both intimate and expansive, that question the boundaries of how our very selves exist in the larger world, particularly as women. The mutability of a subject, whether a person or object, is what makes Lauren’s work dynamic; she sees across the very binary of animate and inanimate, keenly aware of how focusing a lens on anything creates its own fluid energy. Pisano’s work is devoted to the very notion of change and flow: of light, one’s body, and one’s art over time. Yet there is tremendous peace in her photographs, whether of a stretch of fabric or a toddler in motion or the sea or her own limbs, each captures stillness and motion in a single frame, creating delicious moments of pause for the viewer.

Lauren and Payton first crossed art brains in New York City—Payton says Lauren was her first Art Boss, the one responsible for helping her become confident in her Art Self after her big move to NYC after college—and quickly began collaborating. Lauren most recently took Flat Vernacular papers on an epic outdoor adventure for FV’s forthcoming zine (to get your copy of Inside/Outside, join our mailing list here). Everyone was very happy outside in the shifting light and crazy winds of the California beaches. This wasn’t the first time Lauren has photographed FV products or stretched the limits of what wallpaper and fabric are; read on to find out more about one of her first collaborations with Payton (hint: it involved stickers). For this installment of our A Perfect Match series, we spoke to Lauren about her work on the zine, her earliest noticings of the self, and how motherhood has changed her relationship to light and color.

Flat Vernacular: How did the idea to photograph the wallpaper outdoors come about?

Lauren Pisano: When chatting about the shoot with Payton she referenced an image I had taken in the past of some FV fabric taken outside her studio. When I shot that photo I had just grabbed the fabric and started loosely photographing it around the outdoor space. I thought doing the same with the wallpaper could be so fun. Each pattern has its own personality and I liked the idea of treating it like a portrait shoot.

FV: How did you match patterns with environments? What came first, the setting or the paper choice? How did one inspire the other?

LP: I started by scouting locations that had a variety of landscapes so that there were options to pair the paper with natural spaces that really work with their shapes and colors. The goal was to make the papers feel like they were born there. Once I had some locations that had a little bit of everything, it was interesting how well some of the papers clicked with the background. I think that is a testament to how well Payton absorbs her inspiration. It was interesting to think of the papers as Payton’s version of each space. How an artist takes things in, processes it and then spits out their version of things.

FV: What was the shoot itself like? How many days did it take? Any sounds or smells you remember from that time?

LP: The shoot was very pleasurable. It took two days. The first day I brought the papers to El Matador beach. My wonderful assistant suggested it because not only does it have the beach but a great bluff and rock formations. It was pretty windy so we had to struggle a bit to get the papers to cooperate. They truly wanted to be one with nature and be free. Michelle is great and wasn't afraid to throw her body on the papers to keep them still and stay out of the shot. Outtakes anyone?

What I remember most is laughing with Michelle and the setups being somewhat chaotic, but once everything was in place it was peaceful to observe the papers in their environment. Each one shimmered differently in the light and picked up something unexpected from the shapes and colors around.

The second day I took the papers up into Bailey Canyon in Sierra Madre. Because of the recent fires, the area which usually grows quite wild had been tamed a bit to prevent fires from spreading. Since there were less spaces that felt untouched/ natural I focused more on finding little pockets of space off the path a little. The papers feel like they had sprouted up along the trails.

On this day we shot the New York themed paper among a little area of cacti. As a New Yorker living in LA I could relate. A hiker stopped to look at the paper and she was from New York also. She began to reminisce about some of the landmarks Payton illustrated.

FV: What belongs inside?

LP: Me!

FV: What belongs outside?

LP: Everyone else!

FV: Is there a color that you’re being pulled to lately? How is it showing up in your life?

LP: I love this question! I actually think about this so often now that I have a toddler exploring colors. It is so interesting how it becomes such a part of their identity. “Hi. What’s your favorite color?” was my son’s go to conversation starter for a year. At Christmas we were watching Elf and when Buddy is in his dad’s office and runs to answer the phone he says, “Buddy the Elf. What’s your favorite color?” and my son’s eyes grew so wide and he looked at me with a huge smile. I think he felt so seen.

I like watching his taste in colors shift as he grows and it being a really conscious and thoughtful journey. It has made me really question my choices a bit more. I’ve always been drawn to green and if I see some clothing or home item in a specific shade, I feel the need to automatically get it. Now after watching my son take so much consideration in his choices I have been wondering if I really even still like this green, or has it become about the challenge of finding this perfect shade? All that said, I’m very into orange lately and green forever.

FV: Do you remember the first photograph you ever took? What about it do you remember?

LP: I do! Well maybe not the first photo but I remember the first self-portrait I took. I was probably around 5 years old. On Easter at my grandparents house I took this 110 camera I had into my grandparents room and set it up on their dresser. I took a few photos of myself for whatever reason. One I was just looking off to the side. Maybe at the door afraid someone was coming in. In the other I am making a funny face. I love how I’m all dressed up wearing a little Easter bonnet, making this ridiculous face which included stretching my skin down from my eyes with my hands. I also love that you can see the top of the dresser in the photos since I had set the camera up too far back. I really think the thought process that led me to take those photos is the same thing that drives me today. A feeling inside myself that recognizes a moment of time/space that I want to step into. Finding a quiet place away from the group and playing there.

FV: What about the last one you took?

LP: The last photo I took was of my son running off down the block to school. It is picture day so I was trying to capture his picture day lewk before who knows what happens to it before the actual picture day picture. Secretly I hope he makes a funny face instead of smiling.

FV: What environments inspire or move you, in your work or life?

LP: I am always interested in serene places with a little something unexpected. I almost think it’s the only way that I can see without getting overwhelmed. I need to zero in on something specific. I am always taking in the light of a room. There is always something to see. As a photographer, that was a hard thing for me when I had a baby. I was so overwhelmed and consumed by babydom that I couldn’t find my balance enough to get quiet and observe. I missed that part of the world so much. Now that my son is older it’s so much fun to share these things with him and pay tribute to the way the light is hitting something. He’s always had a natural ability to see and recognize when something resonates in a special way. One time when he was around three I got him a new lamp and he was so struck by how it changed how everything looked in his room. He was like, “Mommy it is so beautiful!” It really was so nice that I got him another lamp and put the first one in my room. He still asks for it back. OMG I’m the worst mom! Moving the lamp into his room ASAP.

FV: So much of your work is portraiture. How do you shift your approach when working with various subjects of the animate and inanimate kind? What changes, what stays the same?

LP: I thought about this a lot last month while I was shooting sheets and pillows for a bedding company. My approach is actually so similar. I love to observe people and move around them without giving too much direction. I think naturally there is always some interaction with the camera, and I like to start by just letting them be natural and then slowly move into adding more energy. With inanimate objects it’s oddly the same thing but by changing the way that I engage with the object, by shifting perspective or tightening a crop, I change the energy or flow of the object and its environment. I want to do more of these types of shoots as I feel like my style and aesthetic work well for them. And actually so much of my self portraiture is using myself as an inanimate object…..

FV: Tell me about how you met Payton! Her friend circle seems to be a series of artistic collaborations. What else have you worked on together?

LP: I love Payton. We met when she interviewed for an intern position at a gallery in NYC that I managed. She had just finished working on a sticker piece entitled Enough is Enough and I was working on a self-portrait project, A Muse is A Muse. Somehow, that felt like a sign that we should work together and I hired her! I always felt that she was doing something special and her work was always—and is still—such a part of her being in a way that is rare, even among other artists. Collaborating with her is gratifying because she always has a vision, but is always open to exploring and merging ideas.

In addition to shooting her wallpaper over the years we also did a portrait shoot where she decorated herself with stickers and I photographed her around her apartment in Brooklyn. Now that I think about that it sort of is in line with taking the wallpapers outside, but in this case the wallpaper just came out of itself and onto Payton.