Meet Shauna La

We recently connected with Shauna La and have shared our conversation below.

Shauna, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?

Honestly, I think some of it is in my blood. My biological father came to America as a refugee during the Vietnam War, and my mother went through her own share of hardship but continues to move through life with such grace and strength. Watching both of them taught me what it means to keep going—to start over, to adapt, and to build something meaningful even when everything feels uncertain.

That kind of resilience—just the instinct to move forward, no matter what—is something I’ve carried with me my whole life. It shows up in my art practice, too. Creating is such a vulnerable process. Things fall apart all the time—paintings don’t go the way you envisioned, materials crack, timelines shift—but every challenge becomes part of the work. I’ve learned to see failure and uncertainty as raw material. They push me to explore new forms and new ways of seeing.

I also get my resilience from having a clear sense of purpose. My work is about energy, understanding, movement, and the unseen—those quiet forces that shape our experiences. When I’m rooted in that vision, it grounds me through everything else.

So I’d say it’s a mix of where I come from and what I’ve chosen. A lineage of survival, a deep belief in transformation, and the practice of showing up every day—whether that’s in the studio or in life.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I’m a visual artist, and my work explores the architecture of the intangible—the energy that gathers, disperses, and momentarily holds form. Through sculptural paintings and installations, I try to capture the unseen: movement, vibration, and presence. Over time, I’ve developed a language around monochrome and primary colors—especially matte black, red, and blue. Each color carries its own emotional temperature and energy field, and together they create a balance between restraint and intensity that I find endlessly fascinating.

What excites me most about my work is its ability to bridge the physical and the nonphysical—the space where matter, thought, and emotion meet. I want my pieces to feel alive, as if they’re quietly breathing in the room.

At the core of my practice is a desire to create spaces for contemplation. My work isn’t about offering resolution, but about opening a quiet dialogue—inviting the viewer to slow down, feel, and reflect on how we experience time, memory, existence, and the curiosity of being here at all.

Right now, I’m represented by Royale Projects in Los Angeles and preparing new works for upcoming exhibitions. I’ve also been invited to participate in Personal Structures 2026 in Venice, where I’ll be presenting a new large-scale installation titled Carnal. The works for Carnal will be in shades of deep matte red—very sensual, tactile pieces that explore the physical aspect of our existence, our bodies as vessels of sensation, desire, and energy.

So in many ways, my work is both personal and universal. It’s about understanding—the self, the unseen, and the shared energy that moves through all of us.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

The first would be resilience—the ability to keep moving forward, even when things don’t unfold as planned. In art, so much of the process is about uncertainty. Materials react in unexpected ways, timelines shift, and sometimes an idea completely transforms in the making. I’ve learned to stay grounded through it, trusting that every challenge is part of the evolution of the work.

The second is sensitivity—the ability to really see and feel. My work is about presence, the non-physical, subtlety, and abstract ideas, so cultivating sensitivity—both emotionally and visually—is essential. It’s what allows me to recognize the energy in a color, a surface, a gesture, a thought…and translate it into form.

The third would be understanding—not in an intellectual sense, but as a kind of awareness. The ability to pause, reflect, and grasp what a moment or material is teaching me. That awareness connects everything: the work, the viewer, and the larger questions about time, memory, and existence that continue to drive my practice.

Awesome, really appreciate you opening up with us today and before we close maybe you can share a book recommendation with us. Has there been a book that’s been impactful in your growth and development?

Ninth Street Women by Mary Gabriel has been incredibly meaningful to me. It tells the stories of five pioneering female artists in mid-20th-century New York—Lee Krasner, Elaine de Kooning, Grace Hartigan, Joan Mitchell, and Helen Frankenthaler—women who were fiercely independent, inventive, and unafraid to challenge conventions. What inspired me most was their fierce commitment to their work, despite the immense cultural, institutional, and personal resistance they faced. They made no apologies for their ambition or their creative intensity, even when the world questioned their legitimacy.

One of the most valuable lessons I took from the book is that making art is not a passive act—it’s a kind of defiance, a radical claiming of space. These women created in the face of erasure, and their work endured because it was honest and unapologetically their own. Reading their stories reminded me that being an artist requires not only vision and discipline, but also the courage to remain faithful to your voice.

The book also reinforced the value of curiosity and fearless experimentation—the drive to explore new materials, techniques, and ideas, even when the outcome is unknown. That mindset has become a cornerstone of my own practice and how I approach both art and life.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.shaunalanla.com
• Instagram: shaunalanla

Image Credits

“Titan” 40” x 72” Private Collector Install, Palm Springs
“Genesis: Fire I” 127 cm x 127 cm, 2025
“Passage” 60 cm x 70 cm, 2025
“Echo” 55 cm x 65 cm, 2025
“ Rêverie” 40.64 cm Diameter, 2025