Lori Field: Angels With Attitudes

(Above) Go Fly a Kite
Colored Pencil and Encaustic
48 x 24 inches
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(Above) Go Fly a Kite (detail)
Colored Pencil and Encaustic
48 x 24 inches
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(Above) Annunciation
Colored Pencil and Encaustic
20 x 20 inches
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(Above) Annunciation (detail)
Colored Pencil and Encaustic
20 x 20 inches
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(Above) 24 Hour Party People
Colored Pencil and Encaustic
12 x 9 inches
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(Above) Otherworld
Colored Pencil and Encaustic
12 x 6 x 2 inches
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(Above) Otherworld (detail)
Colored Pencil and Encaustic
12 x 6 x 2 inches
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(Above) Some Like It Hot
Colored Pencil and Encaustic
12 x 8 inches
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(Above) Svengali
Colored Pencil and Encaustic
24 x 24 inches
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(Above) The World has Teeth
Colored Pencil and Encaustic
10 x 8 inches
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THE WORK OF LORI FIELD IS A STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS BLEND OF, as she calls it “subliminal, mysterious worlds - planets of her own creation, demimondes peopled with anthropomorphic ‘angels with attitude’, accompanied by mutants, exhibitionists, seducers, chimeras... and other intimate strangers.” I was lucky to finally catch up with Lori and get this interview with her about her work. Lori and her family reside in the New York City area.

John Foster) Hello Lori. I have been a fan of your work for some time, since seeing some pieces at the Outsider Art Fair in New York quite a few years ago. You are self-taught as a fine artist, am I right?

Lori Field) I had two semesters of art school in the BFA program at SUNY Purchase more years ago then I care to mention. You might have to search the catacombs over at the school to find records or evidence that I’d been there. Ever since I left, I’ve kind of cobbled together a career, first as a commercial artist, and then as a fine artist by teaching myself what I needed to know in order to thrive and get my work seen. It was a process of discovery. I guess you could say I've earned life credits.

John Foster) You use some very old techniques to create your work, namely silverpoint and encaustic. I know that encaustic is a very process-oriented way of working. Tell me more about this.

Lori Field) I actually love using mediums and techniques that are archaic and out of use and giving a modern twist or sensibility to the work through pop cultural reference and personal narrative. Encaustic painting is, I suppose, 'process-oriented', but I don’t really think of it that way. I work in a sort of ritualistic way. I first prepare drawings, then prepare the painted encaustic backgrounds, and then spontaneously and stream of consciously place the various drawings on the different backgrounds and choose which will go where in an intuitive way.

John Foster) Your work has a very surreal quality to it, with figures morphing into animals and plants. Also, all of your figures have over-sized heads and exist in an world of obsessive patterning. How did you get to this point in your work currently.

Lori Field) Not all of my creatures have oversize heads, but most do. The oversized head is a way of emphasizing the strangeness of the figures (as if having animal heads for hats and radical tattooing didn’t do the trick) I also like to tilt the head on the neck sometimes in a way that looks almost painful, broken, to emphasize the creatures otherworldly-ness and vulnerability. If they were the same as us, mere humans, they couldn’t live with their necks so twisted and distorted. They couldn’t live with their heads so large and heavy on their necks. They are supernatural and odd.

John Foster) You have an amazing command of the human figure in your work. Was this a natural thing for you?

Lori Field) I work from references for everything. I love figure drawing but I haven’t had time to draw from life for quite a while, maybe soon again. I don’t know that figure drawing specifically comes naturally, more like drawing in general. I’m very comfortable drawing, it is my main love in art, an addictive, obsessive passion. It’s a good thing I’m that comfortable with it because when drawing in silverpoint, you can't erase and everything must be drawn directly eye to hand, so being relaxed enough to go into a drawing trance is essential.

John Foster) Finally Lori, what’s new in your life— anything you want to share about your life, art or other cosmic things?

Lori Field) I’m being newly represented in New York City by Claire Oliver Gallery in Chelsea (http://www.claireoliver.com) and I’m very excited by the opportunity. I’ll be starting some new large paintings any day now in preparation for my first solo show with the gallery in September 2010. I’ll be working large, something I’ve challenged myself to do gradually and this will be a wonderful immersion for me. Working large allows me to enter the little worlds I’m creating in a whole new way, to be able to go completely over the top and include all sorts of detail and fantasy and symbology that can only be hinted at in the more intimate sized work. I’m very thrilled to start these. I’ll also be traveling with my family this summer to Berlin, Barcelona and Paris so I’m really looking forward to that as well. I love to travel, so I’m getting a bit of the wanderlust out of the system before I have to buckle down and work, work, work towards the new show for the remaining year and change.

John Foster) You’re awesome Lori. Thanks for allowing me to share your work with my readers. Oh— I almost forgot: where can people buy your work?

Lori Field) Although I have several galleries in the US and Europe that carry my work, all initial inquiries should be directed through my New York dealer, Claire Oliver Gallery. To see up to date images of all my available paintings please visit my website by clicking here. There is a link there to Claire Oliver Gallery as well.

All images above © Lori Field, courtesy of Claire Olive Gallery.