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, The Hudson Yards Hell’s Kitchen Alliance, L. Joy Williams of #SundayCivics on SiriusXM, La Mer, Louis Vuitton, 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, Vogue, The Nation, and The New York Times.
Baran creates live-drawings at events for La Mer, Bloomingdale’s, Jacadi Paris, Louis Vuitton, Meatpacking BID, The Standard Hotels, two : minds nyc, and Ippolita on Madison Avenue. Guests leave with their custom drawing done with ink and watercolor.
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 has been a volunteer with the global mutual aid collective Bees & Watermelons since 2024. She 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.
She is the illustrator of 4 books and has a decade of informal art instruction experience.
Through her work, Baran melds her pursuits of art and the healing power of expression. She lives with her husband and son in Hell’s Kitchen.
LAURA BARAN
Painter, Illustrator, and Event Artist
CV
b. Morristown, NJ
2010
Fashion Institute of Technology
BFA, Illustration
2003
Virginia Commonwealth University
The Illustration Academy
Fine Art Exhibitions
2025
Goodbye Summer
All Street Gallery, New York, NY
The National Arts Club Roundtable Exhibition
The National Arts Club, New York, NY
(invited artist)
2024
Materials of Solidarity
Asian/Pacific/American Institute at NYU, New York, NY
2023
The Factory Art 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, 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 Group Show
Curated by Lucien Smith
Milk Gallery, New York, NY
Talking ‘Bout Art Generation
Curated by Hash Halper
The 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 St, New York, NY
2015
Bushwick Open Studios
Brooklyn, 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
2025
Or Maybe Not
Podcast Co-Host
2024
Get Vote Ready: Your Essential Voting Journal
Paperback Journal by L. Joy Williams
Cover and interior illustrations by Laura Baran
#SundayCivics on SiriusXm
Hosted by L. Joy Williams
Episode 260: “Get Vote Ready”
Podcast interview with Laura Baran
The Nation, Scenes of Protest: New York
Illustrations by 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
Zine by Mariame Kaba
(illustrator)
Real Estate Rescue
Mango Publishing
(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 Magazine
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 Magazine10 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 Facilitator
Fiscally-sponsored NYC Arts Organization
Since 2024
Bees & Watermelons
Volunteer
Global Mutual Aid Collective
Artist Statement
I make autobiographical art as a healing mechanism.
I create as a visual narrator, drawing and painting my memories.
My work contemplates personal identity, experiencing a duality of community and isolation, as well as active solidarity with liberation movements.
I harmonize for social justice and human rights, including Indigenous peoples’ Land Back, Black power and reparations, Trans and Queer power, the abolition of the prison industrial complex, and liberation from — as well as resistance to — colonialism, imperialism, oppression, and settler occupation.
I stand against the Western allies’ extermination in Gaza. Free Congo, Sudan, Yemen, and survivors everywhere. I’m a grandchild of survivors of the Nazi holocaust, and a daughter of an immigrant.
Illustration and Events
by Laura Baran
Clients include:
Luxury Brands
La Mer - Louis Vuitton - Monrowe for the Met Gala - Sergio Hudson x Monrowe for New York Fashion Week
Luxury Retailers
Bloomingdale’s - Macy’s - SAKS FIFTH AVENUE - two : minds NYC - Ippolita Boutique Madison Avenue
Hospitality and Travel
The Standard Hotel High Line - Prosper Urban
Publishing
Hay House - HarperCollins - Mango - The Nation - 4th Row Films - Mariame Kaba - L. Joy Williams for Sunday Civics on SiriusXM
New York City Business Improvement Districts
The Hudson Yards Hell’s Kitchen Alliance - Meatpacking BID
Other