Lara Bank is a Los Angeles artist producing conceptual participatory artworks questioning notions of ownership, space, communication, equity, and accomplishment through communal actions. Her projects question where art can happen and test the limits of what we think of as an artistic practice, such as conceptual curation and gallery direction with Sea and Space Explorations, LA, a 501(c)(3) non-profit art gallery project.
Bank received an MFA in Studio Art from Cal Arts in 1998 and an MFA in Painting from the University of Maryland at College Park in 1996.
Exhibitions and events include: The San Diego Art Museum; Koh-i-noor, CH, Denmark; The Torrance Art Museum, CA; Kristi Engle Gallery, LA, CA; Human Resources, LA, CA; Monte Vista Projects, LA, CA; Sea and Space Explorations, LA, CA; Body Builder & Sportsman Gallery, Chicago; Raid Projects, LA, CA; Weingart Gallery, Occidental College, LA, CA; Foundation for Art Resources, LA, CA; Huntington Beach Art Center, LA, CA; Side Street Projects, LA, CA; Centro Nacional de Artes, San Salvador, El Salvador; Raflost Festival, Iceland; ISEA2004 Festival; LA Freewaves.
Her projects have been reviewed and discussed in The LA Weekly, LA Magazine, The LA Times, LA Record, Flash Art, FREIZE Magazine, Citizen LA, Sculpture Magazine, and The Washington Post.
November 19 - December 18, 2011 Ever Green
A collaboration between The Portable Forest, Bianca D’Amico, Nicole Antebi, and Amy Blount Lay
November 19th – December 18th, 2011
at Monte Vista Projects
See more underThe Portable Forest
11/19/2011The Portable Forest, ThePortable Forest Tree Library & Bianca D'Amico, make love plant a garden / excuse me, i planted /
planting a party, Monte Vista Projects, LA, CA. Bianca D'Amico's piece in this shot is the live fern spinning disco ball on the ceiling
1
September 18, 2011 The Portable Forest Mini Parade Float by Lara Bank for The Los Angeles Art Concert, Sunset Blvd.
Toyota Echo, stickers, homebuild registered trailer, evergreens, ghillie suit, 3 helmets with bonsai evergreens
with the guidance of Vespa and Harley drivers: Adrian Tenney, Jay Lizo & Jon Lee. See more under The Portable Forest
09/18/2011The Portable Forest Mini Parade Float by Lara Bank for the Los Angeles Road Concert, Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA. Adrian Tenney and Lara Bank pictured. Photo by Chris Colthart.
1
July 14, 2011, 6-9pm The Portable Forest with Human Pots a participatory art event by Lara Bank for The San Diego Museum of Art See more under Human Pots & The Portable Forest
07/2011 The Portable Forest with Human Pots by Lara Bank for The San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, CA. Wearable works inside the museum rotunda were demonstrated and placed on visitors by assistants in ghillie suits.Ghillie suit wearers: Marcos Siref, Amy Blount Lay.
07/2011 The Portable Forest with Human Pots by Lara Bank for The San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, CA. Installation shot in rotunda (entrance) of the museum. Wearable works were on potting stands to the left of the trees in this photo.
Wearable works produced by Lara Bank for the San Diego Museum of Art, CA. Clockwise: Crystal Gale, Cowboy Bananas, String of Bananas succulent, dirt, wood, cowboy hard hat, Velcro, elastic, cloth, 2011. Beer Garden, Antlers, Blue Chalk Sticks succulent, dirt, wood, beer hats, Velcro, elastic, cloth, 2011. The Spider, Cowboy Succulent, Burn Jelly Plant, dirt, wood, cowboy hard hat, Velcro, elastic, cloth, 2011. Desert, one of 15 wearable rectangular plots of succulents designed to fit on the forearm, String of Pearls succulent, wood box, iPod armband, thread, elastic, Velcro, 2011. Wearable pots are modeled by Chris Colthart and Lara Bank. Photos by Chris Colthart and Lara Bank.
