Laurie Hogin's strange animal paintings
I'm enchanted by the curious menageries painted by Laurie Hogin. According to her gallery page, the "allegorical canvases of faulty fauna, mutant fruit and brand-loyal monkeys suggest the lavishness and opulent detail of the 17th through 19th century European traditions to which they refer, but these painterly flourishes and delicate details belie subversive cultural critique." Seen above, "Diorama with Endless Desires" (oil on canvas, 48" x 60"). I celebrate the beasts' strange and subversive mutations. Laurie Hogin at Littlejohn Contemporary Gallery (Thanks, Kirsten Anderson!)
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I want to cat macro the multicolored rabbits and guniea pigs.
Exactly who's fault is that?
It's like John James Audubon meets Lisa Frank.
Oh, man. I was just reading the post about the woman who lives in a Walter Mitty-esque world of fantasy half the time, and reading through the comments and wondering what was wrong with me. So I shut off the browser and tried to have a daydream. Only daydreaming doesn't really work like that, so I spent most of my daydream sitting at the edge of a sun-warmed granite cliff trying to think of something interesting to do, and rejecting everything as highly derivative of every fantasy novel I've ever read or movie I'd ever seen. Shooing off dragons, giant lions, pegasi, anything that flew by and offered me a ride, because they were all so "done". I tried to make up a *new* creature to offer me a ride, but it kept being, like, the big scary bunny from "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" or She-Ra's damn steed or something.
Then I got irritated at myself, in the daydream, because the theme to the Neverending Story was going through my head throughout.
Finally, I gave up and opened up Boing Boing again and the first thing I see is this gorgeous painting of highly original, exquisitely rendered, never-seen-before creatures of fantasy.
I'm so depressed now.
Laurie is also a fantastic instructor at the School of Art + Design at the University of Illinois in Urbana. She's one of those artists whose intelligence rivals her talent. Awesome (and very unexpected) to see her on bOING bOING.
Strikingly similar to the prehistoric post earlier this week.
It reminds me a lot of the Codex Seriphinianus.
She was my drawing professor at UIUC! Very cool lady, her mutant bunnies always freaked me out though...
As Lincoln said, "Find out what brand of mushrooms she's eating, and send a barrel of it to all my artists."
Just wanted to let everyone know that Laurie's show is in two parts: one part is at Littlejohn and the other part is at our gallery, Schroeder Romero.
Our part, "Monkey Brains", is on view until January 10th (open by appt. only during the holidays). However, we are generally open to the public Tuesday-Saturday, 11-6.
Visit our website and/or come see our version in person.
Thanks for writing about Laurie's work - we love it!
Lisa Schroeder and Sara Jo Romero
Schroeder Romero
637 West 27th Street, ground floor
New York, NY 10001
(212) 630-0722
www.schroederromero.com
I remember her brand-monkeys at the Branded and On Display exhibit at Krannert Art Museum. A whole wall full of monkeys done up in various colors, representing famous brands. This is also where I first saw Ryan McGinness's work.
Big props to Fatty Jubbo who first introduced me to Laurie's work on WFMU's blog, almost exactly a year ago.
Wish I could see some of these in person.