Sydney artist Lauren Webster has delivered a colourful and unexpected installation to public art space Lane Four, transporting a surreal desert landscape to the heart of the city with The Wayward Way. Through a series of painted and hand drawn works in her signature stylistic and expressive renderings; Webster presents a romanticised Western dreamscape – complete with larger-than-life cacti and retro neon signage.
With such iconography at play, we asked Webster to take us on a journey through the physical (and literal) dreamscapes found all over the world (and some on another one…), as she takes us through her “Top Ten Must-Do Wildest Destinations!”, as she proves you don’t have to go far from home to find adventure.
1. The first place that comes to mind when I think about having fun in the wild is my family farm in Country NSW. A drive out of the city and up through the mountains lands me here where I can run wild uninterrupted for days. Picking and eating fruit from untamed trees, walking hilltops in the snow or lying by the water for hours on sunnier days. It’s my secret hiding spot.
2. Most of my days are spent painting and running amok in Surry Hills (NSW) where my studio is. I often meander out in the afternoons to the local grocer to appease my fresh coconut addiction! I know, I know, It’s not like I’m climbing up palm trees with a machete to cut down my own tropical treats… but there’s something about awkwardly munching on a big fresh coconut that makes things feel that little bit more wild in a not-so-wild neck of the woods. Desert Island dreaming in the city!
3. A few years back I jumped on board for a 16 hour train ride out into the desert near Broken Hill (NSW) to draw, paint and take photos for a week. This place was unreal! I wore a pair of my trusty Vans sneakers out there but they didn’t make it out alive… totally annihilated by the dusty desert floor. Proof that this is a wild place to hang or just proof that I sometimes make impractical fashion decisions…? I’ll let you be the judge.
4. Mexico is high up on my list; I have been aching to get there for years! I’ve travelled as far South as New Mexico which I loved to bits but I’m dying to do a solid road trip through the US and cruise on down to Mexico, Dean Moriarty style. Thanks to my friend Sam for sharing the wild and adventurous spirit of Dean through his dog-eared copy of On The Road – He beat me to Mexico but I’ll channel that crazy beatnik to get there too!
5. When I need a little taste of the wild and the salt of the ocean I manage to curb that hunger, if only for a while, by heading either North or South of Sydney along the coastline. Stopping at beaches and bush land along the way, either flying solo or with an adventurous partner in crime, you’ll most likely find me sleeping in the car, making hot breakfast and coffee on the grass, drawing, attempting to surf and visiting friends more accustomed to taming the ocean than I. You don’t need to circumnavigate the globe to get a bit wild, just hit the road.
6. Neverland! Yes indeed, I’m talking Peter Pan, The Lost Boys and that jazz… That place is a wild tropical island brimming with pirates, mermaids, flamingos and eternal youth. What more is there to say? Take me to Neverland so I can continue to not grow up with the kids who inspired my pseudonym Lauren & the Lost Boys.
7. From one Never to another… I want to explore the wild that is the ‘Never Never’, Outback Australia! I’ve had a couple tastes of what’s out there in the distant, deeper lands of this big country of ours, but there’s plenty more roaming to be done yet! Deserts, ancient cultures, wide open space and untouched wonders.
8. I just got back a week ago from a trip to Japan so this one is fresh in my mind. When I was there I trekked to the summit of a huge snow covered mountain, up above the clouds and beyond even remembering that it was cold up there. A worthwhile adventure into the wild all to play in the best untouched powder snow on the way back down! Wild winter wonderlands always deliver.
9. Morocco is well and truly on my wish list! Treasure hunting in the markets, hyper-coloured architecture, desert sand adventures and plenty of cacti… (A good cactus quota will always get me over the line.) Plus there’s also that whole Yves Saint Laurent in the 70s thing! Those cats would been wild in a whole different sense of the word but fun to romanticise about nonetheless.
10. My studio… I guess sometimes things can get a little wild in there. Throwing paint around surrounded by my growing collection of cacti and animal skulls, listening to rock music and hanging with the wild wolf of the studio, (aka Esteban the Jack Russell). One of my favorite places to be, although it’s not always wild, I like it best when it is!
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Lane Four is an ongoing project which aims to promote and support cutting edge artists connecting with The Galeries’ customers through a mutual appreciation for creative expression.
WHAT: THE WAYWARD WAY by Lauren Webster
WHERE: Lane Four at The Galeries, 500 George Street, Sydney NSW 2000
WHEN: Running from February 2015
COST: Free
