Unapologetic Poppies I by Lauren Hua

Unapologetic Poppies I
Lauren Hua
Acrylic, gold foil & mixed media on canvas
12”h x 12”w
2025

When you hold a poppy, she is heavy. She holds more in her butterfly petals than their light and fluttering breathing. She is memory and meaning. Her hue of crimson is a dart, her spine is straight and her eyes hold yours in a direct knowing stare. You do not love a poppy just for her beauty. You love her knowing she is something more.

Get to Know the Austin Artist:
Lauren Hua is an contemporary abstract painter who uses art as a way to blend her American upbringing with her Asian heritage. Carrying her heritage to the canvas as the subject, her pieces are free flowing, with both Japanese and Chinese influences in the brush strokes, motifs and compositions, yet breaks from tradition with bold textures and splashes of metallics which speaks to the more Western, independent, contemporary style.
Her work expresses her pursuit of art and beauty, despite being taught these things were of little value, while still honoring her upbringing. These concepts have shaped her approach to art and been growing and evolving since she first started painting in 2020 when she left her established career and began to discover who she was as a person as well as an artist.