Lauren Portada
The Story of My Teeth
April 29 - May 24, 2025
Opening Reception: May 2nd 6-8PM

Deanna Evans Projects is pleased to present The Story of My Teeth, a solo exhibition of new paintings by Lauren Portada. This will be her first solo exhibition with the gallery and will be on view from April 29 to May 24, 2025.

The title, The Story of My Teeth, is inspired by the book of the same name by Valeria Luiselli, in which the main character becomes both the auctioneer and winning bidder of Marilyn Monroe’s teeth. He feels powerful with his secret, smiling at others while wearing the new veneers.

In The Story of My Teeth, Portada explores the dualities of interior and exterior, safety and exposure, vulnerability and strength. The title references both the artist’s childhood lisp—which cultivated a hyper-awareness of her mouth—and a more present sense of fragility experienced during her early morning trail runs through the woods. These solitary runs, guided only by a headlamp, heighten her sensitivity to the environment. There is power in these places of vulnerability. Each step can be both frightening and empowering, and being in this state both exposes and regenerates her.

Created primarily in the stillness before midday, the paintings are shaped in moments of quiet introspection. They conjure tender spaces featuring ordinary objects: a peeled banana, a cat mid-grooming, birch bark curling from a tree, a bowl of baby teeth. Each becomes a possibility for reflection on exposure, gentleness, and the intimate act of seeing.

Her process mirrors the themes of the work. Rejecting traditional painting norms, Portada works on both sides of the canvas, engaging in a meticulous process of layering, wiping, staining, and collaging. Paint is built up and then stripped away. Canvas and linen are dyed, tarnished, torn, and adhered to the surface. These interventions disrupt the image, forcing a reckoning with what's visible and what's obscured.

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Lauren Portada lives and works in The Oranges, NJ. Previous exhibitions include Gold Gallery (Montclair); Transmitter Gallery (NY); Trestle (NY); Kristen Lorello Gallery (NY) and The PIT (LA). She has exhibited nationally and internationally in New York, Chicago, L.A., India and Norway. Portada was one of ten founding members of the artist-run collective Regina Rex located in Brooklyn and Manhattan from 2010-2018. She has held residencies in India (Fulbright); Svalbard, Norway; Vidgelmir Cave, Iceland; and Skowhegan. Portada has an MFA from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a BFA from Fordham College. She teaches painting at MSU and Trevor Day School.