About
Laura Baran is a painter, illustrator and event artist based in New York City, Lenape Indigenous People’s territories. Pronouns are she/her.
Baran’s client list includes AT&T, Bloomingdale’s, HarperCollins, Hay House, L. Joy Williams of #SundayCivics on SiriusXM, La Mer, Louis Vuitton, Mango Publishing, Meatpacking Business Improvement District, Sergio Hudson x Monrowe, The Standard Hotels, and renowned organizer Mariame Kaba.
Her work has been in Vanity Fair, The Huffington Post, Time Out New York, Elle, The Nation and the New York Times. She is the illustrator of 4 books.
Baran creates live-drawings at events for Bloomingdale’s, La Mer, Louis Vuitton, Meatpacking BID, The Standard Hotels, two : minds nyc, and Ippolita on Madison Avenue. The guests leave with their custom drawing done with ink and watercolor. She also teaches art, with over a decade’s worth of informal art instruction experience.
Baran earned a BFA in Illustration from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York and received the Effie Bowie Award for Excellence in Painting from New York’s Society of Illustrators.
Her fine art exhibitions include New York Fashion Week, The National Arts Club in New York, Milk Gallery in New York, Envoy Enterprises in New York, and STP — Serving The People, founded by Lucien Smith. Baran’s works are part of private art collections in the US, UK, and Australia.
Baran's figurative expressionism in her fine art work draws on personal subject matter. She celebrates and documents her emotions, memories, liberation themes, postpartum themes, and spiritual connectedness through narrative depictions of herself, ordinary life, and natural beauty.
Baran co-founded the organization Arts & Dreams, and has led art workshops to inspire hope and self-love with New Yorkers of all ages since 2009. Through her work, she merges her passions of art and healing. She lives with her husband and son in Hell’s Kitchen.
LAURA BARAN
Painter, Illustrator, and Event Artist
Artist Statement
I create as a visual narrator, making drawings and paintings of memories, people, and places.
My work contemplates personal identity, experiencing community, isolation, and active solidarity with liberation movements. I make autobiographical art as a healing mechanism. I’m a descendant of survivors of the Nazi Holocaust and the daughter on an immigrant.
I advocate for social justice, human rights, Black power, reparations, Indigenous peoples’ Land Back, trans and queer power, the abolition of the prison industrial complex, and liberation from — as well as resistance to — colonialism, oppression, and settler occupation. — Laura Baran
CV
b. Morristown, NJ
Fashion Institute of Technology 2010 BFA Illustration
Virginia Commonwealth University 2003 The Illustration Academy
Selected Fine Art Exhibitions
2024
Materials of Solidarity, Asian/Pacific/American Institute at NYU, New York, NY
2023
The Factory Holiday Art Market, Artist Alley at South Hill, Ithaca, NY (invited artist)
The Factory Art Market Sprinkle, Artist Alley at South Hill, Ithaca, NY (invited artist)
2022
Sergio Hudson SS22, featuring Monrowe collab, New York Fashion Week, Spring Studios, New York, NY
2021
Drawing From Life, Hamilton Street Gallery, Bound Brook, NJ
2020
Self Portrait, Serving the People (STP), online
Celebration, WomensWork.Art Gallery, Poughkeepsie, NY
2019
Cultivate Hell’s Kitchen, MC Gallery, New York, NY
The National Arts Club Roundtable Exhibition, The National Arts Club, New York, NY
2018
Serving The People (STP) Group Show, Milk Gallery, New York, NY
Talking ‘Bout Art Generation, Bushwick Generator, Brooklyn, NY
2017
As I Am, Sager Reeves Gallery, Columbia, MO
2016
August Show, 17 Frost Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Fridge Art Fair, Angel Orensanz Foundation, New York, NY
Are You, Are You Not, 81 Christopher, New York, NY
2015
Bushwick Open Studios, New York, NY
Runners Up Group Exhibition, The Greenpoint Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Winter Grand Salon, The Greenpoint Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2013
Winter Exhibit, Sager Reeves Gallery, Columbia, MO
2009
Art Bazaar, Lyons Wier Gallery, New York, NY
Everybody, Envoy Enterprises, New York, NY
We Have Our Musics, Envoy Enterprises, New York, NY
2007
Crooked Mirror, Envoy Enterprises, New York, NY
Summer Seething, Envoy Enterprises, New York, NY
2003
ICON3: The Illustration Conference, The University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA
Juried Illustrators Academy Student Exhibition, Anderson Gallery, Richmond, VA
Student Scholarship Exhibition, Society of Illustrators, New York, NY
Press and Publications
2024
Get Vote Ready: Your Essential Voting Journal by L. Joy Williams, Cover and interior illustrations by Laura Baran
#SundayCivics on SiriusXm with L. Joy Williams, Episode 260: “Get Vote Ready,” Podcast interview with Laura Baran
The Nation, Scenes of Protest: New York by Laura Baran
Bold Journey, Meet Laura Baran, Interview with Laura Baran
Meatpacking BID, Look Up! Laura Baran’s Banner Designs
The District Tea, Fall Edition, Meatpacking BID, Cover and interior illustrations by Laura Baran
The District Tea, Summer Edition, Meatpacking BID, Cover illustration by Laura Baran
The District Tea, Spring Edition, Meatpacking BID, Cover illustration by Laura Baran
2023
Meatpacking BID, Unleashing Creativity with Laura Baran in the Meatpacking District
2022
Vogue, Sergio Hudson Spring 2022 Ready-to-Wear (images)
Harper’s Bazaar, The Most Memorable Moments from Day Three of New York Fashion Week (images)
E!, New York Fashion Week Sergio Hudson (images)
The New York Times, Scoring in the Shadow of the Super Bowl: Altuzarra and Sergio Hudson are playing the long game (images)
Elle, The Best Looks From New York Fashion Week (images)
CNN, From Kamala Harris to Beyoncé, Sergio Hudson dresses women in charge (images)
ABC News, Model legends walk Sergio Hudson's NY Fashion Week runway (images)
The Hollywood Reporter, NYFW: Sergio Hudson Debuts Safari-Themed Fall Collection in Pastels (images)
2021
The Bound Brook Chronicle, Hamilton Street Gallery’s Exhibition “Drawing From Life”
2020
Good Food From Far and Wide, by Mariame Kaba (illustrator)
Real Estate Rescue, Mango (illustrator)
2019
Mantras In Motion, Hay House (illustrator)
2018
Office Magazine, Serving the People of New York
Purple Diary, Lucien Smith & STP “Group Show” Exhibition at Milk Gallery (images)
GEN, Gene Variant in Amish a Clue to Better Aging (illustrator)
2017
Anyone Who’s Anyone, HarperCollins (illustrator)
Columbia Daily Tribune, Seeing the Light
The New York Times, How to Interview a Celebrity Like a Celebrity (images)
Real Simple, The Best New Books to Read this Month (images)
Vanity Fair, Celebrity Q&A Veteran George Wayne Explains the Difference (images)
2016
Rose’s Summer of Arts & Dreams, Balboa Press (co-author, illustrator)
2014
Time Out New York, The 30 Best Movie Posters of 2014 (work recognized as #1)
Indiewire, Exclusive: Gorgeous Hand-Painted Poster for Robert Greene’s “Actress”
MUBI’s The Notebook, The Best Movie Posters of 2014 (images)
The Playlist, 20 Best Movie Posters of 2014 (images)
Slant Magazine, 10 Best Movie Posters of 2014 (images)
Apartment Therapy, Allison’s Silver Lake Charmer with a View
The Huffington Post, Bushwick’s Street Art and Trendy Shops Make it the Next Hipster Hotspot in Brooklyn (images)
2013
Columbia Daily Tribune, Works in PS:Gallery’s Winter Exhibit Let Viewers Gaze into Artists’ Process, Personality
Third Place Magazine (illustrator)
2012
Time Out New York, Dear Bushwick Review (images)
Slush Pile Magazine, Featured artist
2009
Miniature Garden, Book of Houseplants, Printed Matter
2006
Opium Magazine, Interview with Painter Laura Baran
2005
Elle, April 2005 (images)
Awards
2014
The #1 Best Movie Poster of 2014, TimeOut New York, NY
2003
Effie Bowie Award for Excellence in Painting, Society of Illustrators, New York, NY
Scholarship to the Illustration Academy, Society of Illustrators, New York, NY
Affiliations
Since 2009
Arts & Dreams, Co-Founder and Workshop Teacher
Fiscally-sponsored NYC arts organization providing creative workshops to expand self love
Since 2024
Bees & Watermelons, Volunteer
Global mutual aid collective