No matter how much time is spent examining Tad Lauritzen Wright’s art, one is bound to discover something new. Each piece—whether a collage, painting, drawing, lithograph or interactive game—is chock-full of images and words, many exploring sardonic notions of beauty. The artist’s varied techniques, cunning titles and playful cartoons make the work inherently accessible; it is also infused with irreverence, eroticism and personal insight. Viewers won’t want to miss a beat.

Second Chance Series
The collages on display are part of Lauritzen Wright’s Second Chance series. These large multi-media canvases—comprised of drawings, doodles, “to do” lists, word find puzzles and pieces of patterned paper—represent snippets from the artist’s life and provide glimpses into the creative mind. The drawings are torn from Lauritzen Wright’s sketchbooks, while personal notes written on scraps of yellow legal paper float like Post-It’s on a crowded bulletin board. As the eye darts across the richly collaged surfaces, the viewer is treated to stream of consciousness associations not unlike the thoughts and images that race across the mind before falling asleep.

The Second Chance series is essentially autobiographical. Lauritzen Wright’s “to do” lists are mementoes of tasks long forgotten and now irrelevant. In Reminder, a pale yellow square contains the hand-written word “reminder” five times, but what it refers to remains unknown as the words fade into an illegible scribble. The same collage displays the list “Things I love that are killing me: beer, cigarettes, bad food” (cigarettes make frequent appearances in Lauritzen Wright’s art, as does the mantra “stop smoking”). Like reading someone’s diary, viewers are privy to the private thoughts and vices of the artist.

Lauritzen Wright weaves thematic threads throughout his collages. Leonardo’s Mona Lisa, the world’s most ubiquitous icon of feminine beauty and mystique, appears numerous times, as do references to Marcel Duchamp’s notorious LHOOQ. (In 1919, Duchamp drew a moustache and goatee on a postcard of the Mona Lisa. Phonetically, in French, his caption LHOOQ sounds like elle a chaud au cul, meaning “she’s hot in the ass.”) It is easy to see Lauritzen Wright’s affinity to Duchamp’s mischievous mind; in Check List, he reconstructs Mona Lisa’s portrait in graphite scribbles that suggest phalluses. Other recurring emblems include gun-wielding cowboys, single-line daisy chains, multi-storied apartment buildings and boxing figures—many appropriated from the artist’s previous works.

Lauritzen Wright is interested in the visual associations and open-ended interpretations that the disparate components create. The collages are playful with their cartoon illustrations and word games, but upon closer inspection, they are also cheeky and subversive. One word find demonstrates multiple reconfigurations of the word “shit.” Check List admonishes that “Art should hurt when you sit down,” while in Pass Word, a fleshy naked woman asks “Does my ass look big?” By juxtaposing the collages with large areas of flat, abstract design, Lauritzen Wright deftly creates an aesthetic harmony between the cacophony of images and the steady patterns of line and color.

Included in the Second Chance series is a professional shuffleboard table in which the artist has altered the playing surface so that participant’s discs land on various designations of beauty. Titled The Fate of Beauty, the table displays idiomatic phrases like “something the cat dragged in,” “drop dead gorgeous,” “nothing to write home about,” and “hot as a two dollar pistol.” Combining skill and luck, this interactive game is one where players most definitely want to be given a second chance. 

Grid Paintings
Red Head Discount and Breakfast of Champions are large, colorful canvases, each divided into 96 squares. Their grids contain a plethora of familiar cartoon figures (Pepé Le Pew, Deputy Dog, Pac Man), but typical of Lauritzen Wright, first impressions often dissolve into darker references. Atop illustrations from the classic children’s books The Three Pigs and Fuzzy Duckling, the artist paints military tanks, bubbling lab beakers, ominous skulls and crossbones, and bull’s-eye targets. Like the Second Chance series, the grid works allow a combination of thoughts and visual symbols to coalesce, creating unexpected relationships and new narratives.

Single Line Drawings
Lauritzen Wright’s signature single line drawings are time-based compositions in which the artist follows a continuous line through the entire process. The technique is an introductory art class exercise, yet in this instance, Lauritzen Wright elevates its scale and complexity to an astounding level. Beautiful Kama Sutra Headrests are single line drawings embroidered onto pillow cases—an apt location (perhaps they are intended to serve as handy “how to” manuals for the uninitiated). The irreverent Beautiful Shaved LHOOQ, too, is a single line work replicating the Mona Lisa. The portrait is easily recognizable and yet its reference to hair—with its tightly wound, coiled lines—suggests that it is constructed of pubic hair.

Lauritzen Wright often uses the adjective “beautiful” to title his works, as in his lithograph Beautiful Ground Attack—not a situation that most people deem attractive. Likewise, his Beautiful Playmates are anything but. Beauty may be subjective, but the artist suggests that our excessive use of the word has diluted its meaning.

A Minute of My Time
Good looks, or lack thereof, also lie at the heart of A Minute of My Time, an immense installation of 1,440 self-portraits—one for every minute of the day. Lauritzen Wright’s moustache and goatee are the only recognizable constants in these drawings where he assumes different personas and dons many unattractive attributes: bad teeth, bad hair (mullets, mohawks, comb-overs), and bad habits (smoking). Once again, the artist exposes himself and his insecurities in comical ways. Such honest self-examination is a crucial component to his creative process.

Philosophy of Beauty
Philosophy of Beauty is perhaps the most ambitious piece in the exhibition, and the work from which the title of the show is taken. It is composed of ten separate canvas word finds, each measuring four by four feet. Assembled, it is a monumental work, demonstrating Lauritzen Wright’s penchant for games. However, the puzzles are already solved as only the words to be found are currently painted. The artist will complete the lettering as each canvas is purchased, an interesting concept for potential buyers.

Philosophy of Beauty presents the opportunity for viewer interaction, as each word or phrase brings a personal set of visual possibilities to mind. Naturally, the work has numerous references to beauty, including an entire canvas containing the names of popular singers, models, and actresses (Audrey Hepburn, Julia Roberts, Scarlett Johansson, and Nicole Kidman among them). But most of the words and sayings have edgier connotations. Classical references to Plato, Aphrodite, and Helen of Troy are intermingled with Judge Judy’s “Beauty fades, dumb is forever,” as well as contemporary catchwords like “centerfold” and “swim suit issue.”

Webster’s Dictionary defines beauty as “the quality present in a thing or person that gives intense pleasure or deep satisfaction to the mind, whether arising from sensory manifestations (as shape, color, sound, etc.), a meaningful design or pattern, or something else (as a personality in which high spiritual qualities are manifest).” Tad Lauritzen Wright wrestles with the term through his unique synthesis of high art and pop culture. He may not arrive at a new definition of beauty, but joining him on the roller coaster ride through his creative process is much more fun.