
Lola Rose Thompson | Tappan Residency
Lola Rose Thompson | Tappan Residency
Lola Rose Thompson | Tappan Residency
From November 2017 to February 2018, artist Lola Rose Thompson joined us in our Downtown studio residency program. Installed in the upstairs floor, Thompson created a color-filled wonderland, reflective of the artist’s signature psychedelic aesthetic.
We sat down with Lola to talk about the affect her time in the Tappan residency program had upon her practice and the works she created in the process….



Lola Rose Thompson says
“The kinetic energy of walking to the studio from my apartment in MacCarthur Park most mornings really helped me solidify some of the ideas for the body of work I’m currently working on, and helped me to arrive every morning feeling fresh and ready to work.”



“Being in residency in Downtown was such a joy. I was able to walk to work for the first time.....ever. Walking in LA is such a rare luxury, but it really allows even an LA native like me to see the city in a completely different way and really experience it full force, with all its beauty and idiosyncrasy and hideousness right in your face! The kinetic energy of walking to the studio from my apartment in MacCarthur Park most mornings really helped me solidify some of the ideas for the body of work I’m currently working on, and helped me to arrive every morning feeling fresh and ready to work. It also didn’t hurt that there were quite a lot of flowers blooming en route. I admit, I did do a bit of flower thieving....although I prefer to think of it more as pruning....if you know how to pick flowers the right way you actually encourage more blooms! But try to explain that to some homeowner drinking their morning coffee seeing a rascally artist type wielding scissors in their front yard....it doesn’t always go over so well.
The building itself was designed originally as artist studios, and it just had this amazing energy.....like a lot of good work has been done here. I also loved being around artists with completely different working styles than mine - I find the way Martinet and Texereau work so incredible to watch - it’s magical, psychic, they are so entwined.”