Artist Research: Laurie Hogin

Artist Website  •  Little John Contemporary (Gallery)

(artist website's Java does not allow direct posting of images)
All images from gallery website unless otherwise stated.

 

I saw this work in person when it came to Towson; more filled in than is here done-- the center bird had red feathers with the most minute textures in the feathers-- each hair was painted in. the mushrooms and pumpkins in the front were also painted. As neon as it appears to be (I've no idea how she can take such colorful photographs) in person.

Artist statements point to these works being allegorical and at least semi-narrative in nature; mentions narrative articulating human experiences. the colors refer to the contemporary media landscape, with bright advertising and design everywhere. Mentions treating her animals as still lives, almost-- "My work of the past 20 years has consisted primarily of allegorical paintings of mutant plants and animals in languishing, overgrown landscape settings or posed as though for classical still life or portraiture" (From Artist statement.)

Wealth of color and texture that does not distract from the composition. Cleverly built landscapes accented with trees, clouds, flat areas, rocks and bushes in specific places to guide the eye (similar to the altarpiece landscapes of middle/late northern renn;/the danube school) 

ARticle

The painting above is called allegory of the free market-- an appropriate title. not quite as colorful and the landscape is more barren, while the animals are more active and discordant than is normal for her paintings. Nice symbolism/clear meaning. the above image is taken from teh linked article. 

uses bunnies frequently as a specific symbol because of the baggage culturally associated with them in western societies (mining for this baggage is occasionally how i choose the species of my animal-people, if they're supposed to symbolize a specific thing.)

Actually a different image, but reveals something about her working method I think? (or at least something that seems to be revealed re: the diaroma with bruised fruits, which is the first image  I put up. in the gallery's web image of that painting, there are parts of the landscape yet unpainted which reveal a white underpainting. 

this is called Little Kitchen Still Life #1. The "cultural baggage" of bunnies = docile, cute, and harmless, but the bunnies in these still lives are at the very least grumpy-looking, and sometimes even threatening. Article above also mentions that bunnies in these paintings are often a statement about gender and how the place of women has been reinforced by their careful posing in the western history of  painting.

Grumpy bunny and neon fruit. places high-color objects next to relatively staid background colors. The animals and the fruit are usually what is ultra-colorful. Much of the rest is neutral as balance. 

Guinea pigs as statements about/allegories for pharmaceuticals. title: "What Ails Us - The 100 Most-Prescribed Pharmaceuticals in the Nation, " Titles in hogin's work are important and reveal wry commentary that give her work context. I should apply this.  

"The sleep of reason produces monsters" -- important print by goya (which i am also referencing in a work). Diorama-type image (she mentions being inspired by these) with careful positioning of the animals as if they were objects (like in a diorama); these sorts of work are typically static but the expressions and small interactions between individual animals reveal much.

Also she makes etchings.

choice of frames is deliberate and important. Kitchsy glittery frame to emphasize the reference. REferences field guides in smaller paintings (the above are from a series called "Field guide to inks and dyes"). 

eld Guide to Allegorical and Metaphorical Plants: PATRIOT Fungus, Campaign Bunting Fungus

and installation/sculpture. 

makes work for visual-based education of children in her community, as well. The gallery mentions her having research interests at all (!!) and "Hogin's research interests also include cognitive approaches to understanding visual culture and creativity, and the application of theories of propaganda, pictorial narrative and imaginary space to visual materials intended for specific educational purposes. " 

 EDIT:

Sketchbook