Lauren Dela Roche in the Great Rivers Biennial 2026
Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis
Lauren Dela Roche in the Great Rivers Biennial 2026
The Great Rivers Biennial (GRB)—a collaborative initiative between CAM and the Gateway Foundation—recognizes and fosters artistic talent in the greater St. Louis metropolitan area. For the 2026 Biennial, artists Vaughn Terrell Davis Jr., Lauren dela Roche, and Vincent Stemmler have proposed ambitious exhibitions that explore figuration, gesture, materiality, and color through painting, drawing, sculpture, ceramics, video, and digital media. Their thoughtful considerations of repair and regeneration offer visions of resilience.
Lauren dela Roche in her studio, 2026.
Photo by Roy Brady
The three award winners were unanimously selected by a distinguished panel of independent jurors: Leslie Hewitt, artist and Associate Professor of Art at Rice University in Houston; Margot Norton, Chief Curator at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley; and Pavel Pyś, Curator of Visual Arts and Collections Strategy at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. The jurors made the selection after visiting the studios of ten semifinalist artists who were chosen from a pool of 93 applicants.
Great Rivers Biennial 2026 is organized for the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis by Dean Daderko, Ferring Foundation Chief Curator, and Misa Jeffereis, Associate Curator, with support from Grace Early, Exhibitions Assistant.
Lauren dela Roche in her studio, 2026.
Photo by Roy Brady
In many of Lauren dela Roche’s recent large-scale paintings, female figures lounge together in highly stylized architectural spaces animated by dynamic patterns and color. The vintage feed sacks she quilts together and paints on are full of patinas of use. Dela Roche incorporates these holes, logos, patches, and mends into her compositions, creating depth, and suggesting renewal. This exhibition sees dela Roche experimenting with new forms and mediums. In one new series, linear drawings of figures appear alongside cutout tissue paper shapes, pressed leaves and flowers, and treasured collage elements collected by the artist that she sandwiches between layers of encaustic wax; their rippling surfaces suggest layers of history accumulating or peeling away. Alongside these paintings, dela Roche debuts new figurative sculptures in cast bronze, presented alongside sculptures fabricated from vintage dollhouses.
Lauren dela Roche's paintings will be on view in the gallery's presentation at the Armory Show on September 24–27, 2026.
Lauren dela Roche
Erosion 2, 2025
acrylic on found cotton feedsack with acrylic varnish
77 x 96 in.
195.6 x 243.8 cm.
(LDRO063)
Lauren dela Roche
Sycamore Sapling, 2025
acrylic on found cotton feedsack with acrylic varnish
100 x 72 in.
254 x 182.9 cm.
(LDRO070)
Lauren dela Roche
Origin of a Flower, 2024
acrylic on found cotton feedsack and acrylic varnish
125 x 148 in.
317.5 x 375.9 cm.
(LDRO052)
Lauren dela Roche
Feeding Fish, 2025
acrylic on found cotton feedsack and acrylic varnish
55 x 85 in.
139.7 x 215.9 cm.
(LDRO058)
Lauren dela Roche
Erosion 1, 2025
acrylic on found cotton feedsack with acrylic varnish
75 x 95 in.
190.5 x 241.3 cm.
(LDRO064)
Lauren dela Roche
Erosion 2, 2025
acrylic on found cotton feedsack with acrylic varnish
77 x 96 in.
195.6 x 243.8 cm.
(LDRO063)
Lauren dela Roche
Sycamore Sapling, 2025
acrylic on found cotton feedsack with acrylic varnish
100 x 72 in.
254 x 182.9 cm.
(LDRO070)
Lauren dela Roche
Origin of a Flower, 2024
acrylic on found cotton feedsack and acrylic varnish
125 x 148 in.
317.5 x 375.9 cm.
(LDRO052)
Lauren dela Roche
Feeding Fish, 2025
acrylic on found cotton feedsack and acrylic varnish
55 x 85 in.
139.7 x 215.9 cm.
(LDRO058)
Lauren dela Roche
Erosion 1, 2025
acrylic on found cotton feedsack with acrylic varnish
75 x 95 in.
190.5 x 241.3 cm.
(LDRO064)