A Thesis Interview With Artist, Lauren Morich

This week I got the chance to interview Lauren Morich, a senior at Mason Gross, the art school of Rutgers University. Lauren is a graphic design student who is talented in painting and mixed media. I had an opportunity to sit down with Lauren in her home/workspace and learn a little more about her.

Lauren Morich
Graphic Design

Berger – What’s your favorite medium to work in? You seem to have a wide variety of different works.

Morich – I actually really like to work with markers. Let me show you.

(Lauren pulls out a large plastic container full of colorful markers and says, “ I have a problem!” We both burst out laughing.)

Berger – So, who is your favorite artist?

Morich – I don’t have one. Haha is that bad? I have different phases of artists I like. At the moment I am really into the work of Iggy J. Nunez.

Berger – Do you relate your work to his at all?

Morich – His work is really mixed media – ish and that’s what I have in mind for my thesis.

Morich's mixed media 

Berger – Can you elaborate on some of these ideas you may have already for thesis?

Morich – Well, at this point I came up with the concept that one medium shouldn’t dominate the piece.

Berger – So what mediums do you plan on working in?

Morich – I started collecting tags from clothes. I have so many that its getting ridiculous. I started making mobiles and drawings incorporating these tags. I started thinking, what if the Mona Lisa was created in modern times and in more of a graphic medium. This got me questioning, should art be based on the medium or of what it actually is.

Berger – That’s a really interesting concept to come from clothing tags. How do you interpret yourself as an artist?

Morich – I don’t want my art to be bound by parameters that other people intreprete.

Berger – Your paintings look a lot like the marker drawings you showed me earlier. I see a big connection between the two.

Morich – Well, for this series I interpreted the seven deadly sins through painting. The painting on the wall is something I created based off one of the deadly sins, so there is definitely a connection between the two.

Morich's Seven Deadly Sins

Berger – Do you see any other themes or connections throughout your work?

Morich – When I work with markers I can see similarities in shapes and colors I choose.

Berger – Yes I agree and can totally see the similarities between your pieces. What is this?

Morich – For a class I recently took, we had to choose someone to follow on Twitter. I choose Oprah Winfrey. I then created a book of her more inspiring tweets and put it together for middle age women to have on their desk or library.

Berger – This is amazing! What made you choose to pick Oprah as your person to follow?

Morich – I wanted to pick someone people could relate to and many women see Oprah as a great role model.

Berger – I think it’s a great idea and I think many women would buy it!