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Lauren Tsipori: Artist and Musician · philly has heART

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How was your weekend? Good weekend. I got into
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nothing really, but it was very productive. I
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spent one and a half days in the office. And
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the other half a day I spent scheduling editorial
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for 2026. Wow. And guys. It's going to be so
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good. It's going to be so good. I'm so excited
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for our upcoming guests. Nice. Yeah. Yeah. We've
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been super lucky and super grateful for everyone
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and their conversations. It's been great. I just
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can't believe people trust us. We've had a good
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run so far. We haven't burned anyone yet though,
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so I'll give us that. No, we are not in the gotcha
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business 100 % I got to have a great experience
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on Friday, I got a sneak peek into Philadelphia
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Ballet's brand new Center for Dance. It's the
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Louise Reed Center for Dance, am I right? Oh,
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we lovin' it, we're lovin' it. Yeah, and so they're
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adding, I might be getting this wrong, but I
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wanna say another 40 ,000 square feet of space
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between the new building and their... school
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studio. So what's currently their school is being
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used by the company and the school and adults
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and the community. It's chaos over there with
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only three studios. I can speak to that because
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up until the end of the summer, Petit Garçon
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was taking classes there and it just felt like
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you were climbing over people, point shoes, duffel
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bags. This is exactly what they need. And it
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is such an amazing foundation to start Philadelphia
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Ballet's new chapter. is dedicated space for
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the company, dedicated space for the costumes,
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dedicated space for the shoes, dedicated space
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for the community through a black box theater.
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There's a community kitchen that's going to be
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in there. The lobby looks beautiful and inviting
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and all. Tell me there's a pen for dance school
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parents to wait. There's even their own adult
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locker room so that the kids. have their own
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space and the adults would have their own space.
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Well, that's nice. Yeah. Yeah. And what everybody
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loves the most is there's bathrooms everywhere.
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I mean, you take that for granted, but everybody's
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excited about how many bathrooms there's going
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to be. Per my knowledge, there is currently one
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set of gang bathrooms. Right. And some people
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use that as a changing room. Yeah. Yeah. They
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have outgrown this space years ago with On Hell's
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artistic direction and Shelley's guidance through
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this next capital phase for them. And this is
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finally the moment that they have to shine. It's
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going to be great. It already is. Yeah. It looks
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great. I speak that as someone who works in A
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&E. Yeah, that's true. That's architecture and
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engineering people. It's gonna be beautiful.
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Okay. Anything else? No. We kept it light. So
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with that... You know what? Sometimes you have
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to keep it light. Yes. We have light days. We
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have heavy days. Yes, we do. On to the conversation.
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On to the conversation. This is Robert Marsh
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and you're listening to Philly Has Heart podcast.
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In this podcast, we sit down with the artists,
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gallerists, educators, curators, and other creatives
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who comprise the Philadelphia art world to discuss
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upcoming performances, exhibits, and other events
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and initiatives that are not to be missed. The
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art scene in Philadelphia is so rich that it
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can seem daunting. Consider this your weekend
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cultural recommendation. With me always is my
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producer, Lucinda Deggerland. Hey, hey, hey.
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And today we have Lauren Sopori, artist. We're
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so happy to have you today. Welcome. Thank you.
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So, Lauren, let us know a little bit about your
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origin story. How did you come to the art that
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you're currently producing today and what, you
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know... trials and tribulations were there to
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kind of get you to where you are today. I thought
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I was going to be a rock star when I was little.
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Nice. Sidebar, you're a vocalist, right? I'm
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a musician and I sing vocals too. Nice. I found
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your Spotify. Oh, yeah. Oh, cool. Go back. Sorry
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to interrupt. Music was my thing. I was convinced
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I was going to be a rock star when I was a kid.
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I was put on ADD medication really early, and
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I would just sit there and draw instead of paying
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attention. I'd get really into my drawing, so
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I would draw different musicians. But I never
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really thought of myself as an artist, and I
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started playing music in bands in high school.
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And then at 24, I decided I really wanted to
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go to school. I kept having dreams about... Being
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in a classroom and I was never like good in class
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or anything and I hated high school but I just
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really wanted to go to college and And I was
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like, yeah try art. I was dating a photographer
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who was like, yeah I want to go to Yale and did
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this residency and this and that and I was like
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Man, there's just like a straight shot to like
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being an artist I thought that was a thing, but
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it's not that easy, but you know music and everything.
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There's like tours and you have to book everything
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and book shows and like all this stuff. And then
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you have to like be with a band and other musicians
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and have practices and rely on all these things.
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And I would like go into the recording studio
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and want to do a take over and over again and
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be in there for hours. And it'd always be like,
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oh, it's good enough. And I want to perfect it.
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I found that art was cool because I get to be
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a perfectionist, and it's all in my own time
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and everything. But yeah, I stopped doing music,
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and so I went to school, and I thought it was
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bullshit. I was like, oh, art's easy. And I always
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knew that I was good at drawing and stuff, but
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it wasn't my thing. And I was like, oh, this
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is easy. You just draw a thing, and this person's
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selling this whatever for this much money. And
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you could just do that. And turns out it wasn't
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that easy at all. I was way ahead of my... You
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know, and I hated abstract art. I thought that
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was bullshit, and I thought it was all fake and
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everything. And then I went to school for painting
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and realized that it was really, really hard.
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And I got very humbled in that way. And yeah,
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I went to community college here in Philadelphia.
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Kind of, I saw Dominique. Dominique Samarco.
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Yeah, Samarco was on here, so. Yeah. We both
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went to CCP at different times and then transferred
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to MICA, but I went to Community College of Philly
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and I was really into painting like representational.
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I was painting pictures for my phone and stuff
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and just like getting the technical stuff in
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there and then I went to MICA and then that kind
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of like blew open my mind and my vision and stuff
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about what art's about. and they really taught
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me how to look and to think for myself and to
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look at things in my own way and so I really
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just studied like all this technical stuff and
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I got really into impressionism and I thought
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I was going to be a representational artist and
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then in my last year I took like a philosophy
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class and then that kind of blew my mind open
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and I really hated painting and I still kind
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of hate painting. But then I realized how abstract
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representational art was and everything and and
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my last semester before my thesis I kind of just
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I went really big and started working from the
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subconscious and and I related back to music
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a lot I was really into blues when I was a kid
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and stuff and I think it's cuz um there's like
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an emotion behind the guitar playing and it's
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kind of more of an expressionist stick type of
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guitar playing instead of like heavy metal and
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doing this technical thing. And I think I translate
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music to art a lot. But yeah, I mean, that's
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how I got into, you know, painting how I am now
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and subconscious sort of abstract expressionist.
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I love that. That's great. One of the listeners
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that we have loves to know what people and artists
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listen to when they create their art. What is
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that for you? Nothing. Nothing. Yeah, nothing.
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You raw dog it. I love that. I tried. When I
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was painting representational stuff, I would
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be able to listen to music because I knew exactly
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what was going to happen in the painting. And
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I had a clear end game. But now, since it's subconscious,
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if I listen to something, it'll start moving
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with... And I know like Jackson Pollock did that
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and, you know, made those jazzy paintings and
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everything. But I really want it to be like mine,
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like completely from my... inner world and everything.
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Non -biased. Yeah, and I feel like if I listen
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to a song or something, then it'll start coming
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in there and whatever musician's singing, then
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their person's gonna get into my painting and
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I want it to just, I leave everything at the
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door before I go in my studio. And also I have
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music ADD. as well. So I'd be like, I want to
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switch the song in this. And it's just like so
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distracting. I end up just zoning out. I like
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it super quiet. Oh, that's perfect. Like our
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other Pascas and Friends of the Pod, you did
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go to Micah. And we think Baltimore and Philadelphia
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as spiritually sisters, right? Also, there's
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a ton of contrast, for instance, Philadelphia
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stands on her own as a primary city, whereas
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Baltimore is frequently overshadowed by DC. What
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attracted you to Micah coming from Philadelphia?
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Well, when I went to CCP, which is, you know,
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the acronym for Community College of Philadelphia,
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one of like the the oldest painting teachers
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there, and he was very like a painter's painter.
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His professor went to Micah. but Sean Sauer,
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my art advisor, told me to really look, really
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think about where I'm gonna go and look at the
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painting professors. So I did a lot of research
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on just which professor I wanted to paint under.
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And I found Mark Carnes, who just recently retired,
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and so did the other guy that took Mark Carnes
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back in the 70s. And he was a real painter's
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painter. And he, again, he taught us how to look
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and how to paint in a very specific way. That
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wasn't like teaching us some sort of style or
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anything. It was a lot of really long, boring
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presentations on Vouillard and different artists.
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So I took just his classes the entire time and
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I never changed professors or anything. I was
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like, if I'm gonna study... something or under
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somebody I want to really you know, he was kind
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of like I would say he was my like Mr. Miyagi
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and I was like the karate kid is like You know
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disciple was my teacher and then I got to him
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and but yeah So that that made me want to go
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to Baltimore and and it was awesome. That's great
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Did you know you wanted to return to Philadelphia
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after school or did you leave it up in the air
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until after graduation? No, I thought about going
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to New York, but then that got quickly shut down
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in my head, thinking about money and studio space
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and everything. We hear that a lot. Yeah, I cannot
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afford that. I don't even think rich people can
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afford New York. Right, that's true. But I really
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wanted to be showing in New York because I like
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that scene and I like the art coming out of there.
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Baltimore is small and it's a little bit further.
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I'm from here and I just, you know, just looking
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at the amount of like galleries and stuff here
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and art stuff going on, it's like huge contrast.
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And I hate D .C. so it scares me. It's too big,
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like the streets are long. Lauren, can you share
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about any upcoming projects or exhibitions that
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you have? So I'm really excited about this upcoming
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exhibition. It's put on by Patrick Bauer and
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Robert Zur. Robert I met through Philly Group
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Crit in Philly. It's run in like Paffa and it's
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an awesome place for artists to get together
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and show each other's work and critique each
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other. Nice. So he invited me to be a part of
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this show with eight other artists and it's called
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Often I Am Permitted to Return to a Meadow at
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the Active Space in Bushwick, Brooklyn. And that's
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on November 7th running until the 22nd. And on
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that is Amy... Chassie, Amy Morgan, Amy Toledo,
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Carlisle Burch, Judy Glantzman, Karen Campbell,
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Matt Richards, and Ruby Hewitt. And yourself.
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And me. And it's just like an all -star lineup,
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and I'm so honored to be a part of that group
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of people. I feel like it's making me really
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appreciate group shows and the whole concept
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of group shows. Often I'm permitted to return
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to a Meadow is all about this like head landscape
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and this kind of subconscious field that you
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could go in. into and it's based off of a poem
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by Robert Duncan, I think. But yeah, so I'm super
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excited about it. If you have any New York listeners
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or Brooklyn listeners, please come. What inspired
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these pieces that are being shown in that exhibition?
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It's one piece. I have a really big piece in
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there and what inspired it was Just my subconscious
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and letting go. A lot of my paintings are just
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totally subconscious mark making and then bringing
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things out. And this one's got like a dog with
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an ax in his hand and there's a penguin in there.
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And then I look at my painting afterwards and
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I'm like, oh, this makes so much sense. This
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is like my ego and this is this and my protective
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layer and all this or whatever. I feel like the
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inspiration kind of comes after the painting.
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Yeah. And yeah, I just totally zone out and turn
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off. That's great. Yeah. It's interesting how
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you notice it after the finished product. Yeah,
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it's like, I don't remember what those things
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are called, like at a psychiatrist's... A Rorschach
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test. Yeah. It's kind of like my own personal
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Rorschach. test and then you know whatever I
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see I'm like hmm you know I see this penguin
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and I see this bird and whatever so I start just
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kind of bringing out whatever I see and then
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other people look at it and they're like oh yeah
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the bull and I'm like oh I see a dog and they're
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like there's a monkey over here in a waterfall
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and I'm like yeah it's your monkey, your waterfall.
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Exactly, exactly whatever your interpretation
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is. That's great, I hope it makes you feel good.
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That's so good. What type of What type of paint
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do you usually work in or work with? And then
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what other mediums do you like to fold into that?
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When I started going big and getting more abstract,
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I got house paint, big buckets of house paint,
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and just started spliring that everywhere and
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moving that around. And it gave me more of the
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opportunity for immediacy. So it would dry in
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like 10 minutes and I'd be able to slap more
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paint on it. So I started working with acrylic
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after being an oil painter for a while and then
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using charcoal a lot and pastel. And then somehow
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I wound back up using oil, just like a little
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finishing touch. And now I keep going back to
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oil. I'll start the... the painting out with
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acrylic and charcoal, and I'll be like, a little
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bit of oil, and then the whole thing becomes
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oil, and I hate oil paint. I think it stinks,
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and it's gross, and then it gets muddy, and I'm
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really trying to avoid it, so I just told my
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partner, take all of my oil paint out of my studio.
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You can use it in your studio. I can't touch
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it, because if it's there, I'll just, when I'm
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painting, I'll just grab whatever's around me,
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and the first thing I, if I can't find red, that
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I'm like, OK, red's not meant to be used right
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now. I see green, so I'll use green or whatever.
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But I've been collaging, actually, recently.
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And I really like that, because I think it's
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easier for colors to find me a little bit more.
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I'll go through a page, and there'll be this
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cool color. And I don't rip out any representational
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things, like a person's face or anything. But
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I'll find a good color in magazines, and I'll
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start ripping those out. So I think I'm going
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to combine a little a little bit of collage with
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my painting or something. My future paintings,
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I've been thinking about doing that a lot. Lauren,
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where can people find you both online and in
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real life? Yeah, Lauren Saporri everything. LaurenSaporri
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.com, Lauren Saporri on Instagram, Lauren Saporri.
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Gmail .com. And you can go on my website now.
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I just paid for it today for my yearly renewal
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because I knew that question was coming. And
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in real life, you can find me if you're lucky.
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I'm kind of a recluse. But you can find me at
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Philly Crit. You can find me at a philosophy
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meetup group that I go to. I go to little groups
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where. the discussions are planned out in advance
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and I go there and I know what I'm doing but
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you won't find me at any parties or anything
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like that. So not at improv night? No, well I
19:31
do that's another thing like if this doesn't
19:33
work out, you know music didn't work out. If
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art doesn't work out, I'm gonna become an actor.
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That's my third backup plan. Fourth will be like
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a countenance. I think your second one is working
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out for you. Yes, exactly. Three really, one
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in a million kind of things. We have some rapid
19:54
fire questions to round out our discussion today.
19:57
Hit me. If you could work in any other medium...
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and achieve the same success that you have now,
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what would it be? Sculpture. Yeah, big, really
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giant sculptures if I had the space and stuff
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for it. And a team to boss around. Yes. It usually
20:15
comes with large projects. Yeah, yeah. Favorite
20:18
art museum outside of Philadelphia? MoMA. If
20:23
you could heist any piece in the world, which
20:26
seemed a lot funnier and less likely before what
20:28
happened at the Louvre, what would it be? All
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my favorite paintings are like landscape paintings.
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It's like something with a bush or something
20:34
in the ocean or whatever. It would be a Cézanne
20:38
painting for sure. One of his landscapes with
20:41
trees. Favorite Philadelphia neighborhood? West
20:44
Philly. We promised a round of F. Mary Kale.
20:48
Do you want an Impressionist edition or do you
20:51
want a Surrealist edition? Give me the Impressionist.
20:55
Yeah. Degas, Renoir, Cézanne. Well, am I fucking
20:59
the people or the paintings? Up to you. Up to
21:02
you. Up to you. I think which one looks most
21:05
like a woman. Which one's the gay one? Okay.
21:12
Degas, Renoir, and Cézanne? Dang. Well, everybody
21:17
hates Renoir. Everybody I have a conversation
21:20
with talks shit on him, so I want to put him
21:23
in the not killed. despite everybody. Nice. Because
21:26
I really like his paintings at the barns. So
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I would fuck Renoir. I would marry Degas. And
21:37
Cezanne's my favorite painter, but I wouldn't
21:41
want to have sex with him or marry him because
21:44
he was totally disgusted by people and didn't
21:47
want to be touched or see anybody ever. So probably
21:50
be the worst relationship of my life. Kill Saison.
21:56
Well done, well done. Well, Lauren, thank you
21:59
so much for your time today. Thank you so much.
22:00
This is a great conversation to have. And everyone
22:03
check out Lauren's exhibition in Brooklyn this
22:06
November. Love talking to them. What do we got
22:22
going on this weekend, Robert? We have some things
22:25
for this weekend, a bunch of things to pencil
22:28
in into your calendar for the future as well.
22:32
Ballet X 20th Anniversary Retrospective is running
22:35
from October 29th through November 9th. Lock's
22:39
Gallery is hosting a dialogue between Jane Irish
22:43
and Paul Galvez on October 30th. It's a free
22:47
event, but RSVP is required. and we linked it
22:51
in the show notes. Philadelphia Art Museum Contemporary
23:14
Craft Show is running from November 7th through
23:18
the 9th at the Philadelphia Convention Center.
23:21
Young Friends of the Philadelphia Ballet Brunch
23:23
at the Bar is on November 9th from 11am to 1pm.
23:28
Get yourself a mimosa. I already got my tickets.
23:32
Fernando Postigo's Postigo Express documenting
23:35
the Basque conflict in San Sebastián, 1977 to
23:40
2003, is opening at UPenn's Arthur Ross Gallery
23:44
on November 7th. And I believe that runs until
23:47
January. Absolutely amazing. There's so many
23:51
great things out there in the art. And so from
23:53
us, Philly has art. And art! Hey guys, Lucinda
24:12
here. Just a little something that we're trying
24:15
out. Take it Robert. You've been listening to
24:19
Philly Has Heart, celebrating the people, projects,
24:22
and passions that inspire us. Don't forget to
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subscribe whenever you listen to the podcast,
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and follow us on Instagram to keep up with Philly's
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art community.