Artist Statement
Lopi LaRoe
Lopi’s current body of oil painting deals
with social unrest throughout the world in the spirit of social realism
in a painterly neo-expressionistic style. Photographically based but not
photo realistic, her work is sourced mostly from photo-journalism and
more recently film stills taken off newsreels from the 40’s. Painting
is more of a permanent medium when compared to the news. Newspaper and
newsreels and the breaking news of today so easily become transitory.
Through painting events in history, she is attempting to reconcile the
beautiful paint with the ugly truths of what people have gone through
and continue to go through, whether it be that of the American Civil Rights
Movement, South Africa’s Apartheid, the Rwandan genocide or the
current War in Iraq. She is working the edge of beauty and pain. The resulting
paintings are powerful in their miniature size.
She is currently working on a new body of work in her studio in Bed-Stuy.
The paintings are getting larger , the subject matter is morphing into
something new and old. She is exploring the relationship between animation
and painting. Working from old film stock, this is a marriage of the old
school with the new and then back again. Look for elements of collage,
works on paper and found imagery in her upcoming work in this summer.
She is interested in exploring the grey area between high and low brow
art, seeking to bridge the gap with a new term: unibrow.
contact Lopi: Lopi at lopilaroe.com