I am what I think you think I am

Lauren Siry. I Am No. 1, 2016. Acrylic on board. 40 1/8” x 31 1/2

1805 Gallery is pleased to announce I am what I think you think I am, an exhibition of new work by Lauren Siry. The one night only exhibition will occur on Saturday, August 20,2016 from 7:00 PM until 9:00 PM. 

Siry’s large scale acrylic paintings explore the perception of self and the influence that social interactions have on how we construct identity. She draws inspiration from Charles Horton Cooley’s social psychological concept the looking-glass selfthat suggests we shape our self-image based on the understanding of how others perceive us. 

“I am not what I think I am, and I am not what you think I am. I am what I think you think I am.” - Charles Horton Cooley,  Human Nature and the Social Order

Siry seamlessly merges painting and drawing within this series by first building the white surface with spontaneous black paint strokes. White marks are then made using a palette knife to scrape away the dried paint; the resulting range of scrapes reveals figures with a magnetic energy that both fuse together and repel their ethereal bodies. The white scrapes expose the curvature of every muscle and connect two masses. It is unclear where one figure ends and a new one begins. 

Siry’s process of identifying figures within a random pattern references the human desire to formulate meaning through social connection. By making sense of others we seek to understand ourselves.