Lori Anne Boocks

1. Where and how would you display your work in an ideal situation?
I’d love to show in a space with plenty of natural lighting. Large, uninterrupted walls. Lots of floor space to let the paintings invade that area, maybe even force the viewer to step over them in places. A space allowing me to explore what a painting can be and challenge viewers to re-think the “canvas-on-the-wall” mentality would be a dream come true. Other artists have done this of course, and I’d like to add my name to this list.

2. If expository writing is good at elucidating and proving a point and
descriptive geometry gives us the tools by which to map objects in space
in relation to one another, what kind of an apparatus does art afford us?
What does art do best?
For me, every piece of art is a potential mirror. We look at a work and if it engages us in some way, there’s the kind of viewer-art interaction that takes, say, a painting I made based on my feelings and experiences and invites you to react. Our experiences -- and how we experience the world -- are reflected upon the piece and the piece in return continues that dialogue or starts one I never imagined and will never be part of except as instigator. The viewer’s going to bring as much baggage (good or bad) to that moment of visual introspection as they want. And if we’re viewing the piece with another person… friend, stranger, relative… and we start talking about the piece out loud, well, the conversation can get even richer.

3. What can you expect from your audience/fans/viewing public? What would you
like them to know about your work?
I think every artist hopes for a moment of the viewer’s time to see if engagement can happen. I would want viewer to know that I have them in mind while I’m making my work. In my head, I imagine people from all walks of life reacting to my paintings. Some may not like my stuff. Some may love it. Some are lukewarm. Throwing your art out into the world is a great unknown. A true risk.
4. Marcel Duchamp said - "Enough with retinal art!" What is your reaction as an artist to this statement?
Hmmm. Does the eye make the art, or does the mind (or heart)? If I interpret it to mean he wanted us to stop making art that was purely visual, we would’ve missed out on some pretty amazing work. 

5. Do you think that there is still room for art movements in today's
pluralistic climate?
“They” say everything’s been done and we’re all stuck in appropriation mode. I’m not sure I buy that. Regardless of what I think, art critics and historians years from now will probably look back on our times and try to make sense of it all, connect those dots, and analyze trends. Finding and naming any movements will certainly make it easier for them to title the big books they tend to publish.
6. What is one question you wished we had asked you about your art? Please
feel free to answer it.
I have a background in writing, and through that experience I learned that it’s not always the words themselves that give meaning and context. For me, it’s about the feelings that come from reading those words. So, while text is the framework upon which I build my paintings, it serves mainly to create emotion. The vigor of the writing, the lines of sentences, the dark charcoal marks… these are all the underpinnings that support color and paint stroke and texture. The title and a legible word or two may hint at the meaning of the painting for me as the creator of it, but in the end it’s all about what the viewer brings to the table.

Lori Anne Boocks

small boxes... some on fire
September 1 - September 25, 2010
First Friday Reception: 9/3, 6 - 8 pm
Artists' Reception: Saturday, 9/11, 4 - 6 pm

Studio Gallery - www.studiogallerydc.com

2108 R Street N.W. Washington, DC 20008 202.232.8734 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              202.232.8734      end_of_the_skype_highlighting begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              202.232.8734      end_of_the_skype_highlighting