Home is Where the Art Is: Lori Larusso

Lori Larusso earned an MFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) and a BFA from the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP). She has consistently exhibited work in solo and group exhibitions, both nationally and internationally, and has been awarded numerous residency fellowships. She is a recipient of the Kentucky Arts Council’s Al Smith Fellowship, the Great Meadows Foundation Professional Development Grant, as well numerous grants from the Kentucky Foundation for Women. Lori is the 2019 Kentucky South Arts Fellow. She currently lives and works in Louisville, Kentucky, USA

LOUISVILLE, KY- Lori Lorusso reached out to MOLLY+FRIENDS from Louisville, Kentucky, where she discussed the domestic inspiration behind her recent work:

In recent work, I am interested in alluding to the skill and physical labor that is involved in domestic chores such as food preparation and cleaning, the labor of caregiving and the gendered emotional caregiving found in the home and workplace.

My intention in using graphic flatness, combined with the placement of elements across a blank space, is to create indexical signs to highlight how these activities are taken for granted and to indicate the way they—and the people who carry them out—become invisible and undervalued in a gendered society.

My intention is to express care and reverence for the everyday, inanimate objects and language that shape our existence. I hope to ask questions about the role of the hand-making artist in a socio-economically digital world: is it possible to communicate a tone of sincerity through the act of making by hand?

She finds herself creating in the midst of uncertainty as a result of COVID-19- related changes to her upcoming residency schedule:

So far, two of the artist residency programs that were scheduled for April and June of this year have been either postponed or cancelled. I am still hopeful that I will be able to attend chaNorth in August, and work with 701 Center for Contemporary Art this fall. The extremely generous Great Meadows Foundation and South Arts have recently awarded me grants to travel, and are willing to hold the funds for me in case I need to postpone travel due to coronavirus. In the meantime, I’m working in my studio— I am lucky to have access to my space at LVA throughout all of this.

Regardless, I’m finding myself focusing on the common yet often used objects in my apartment and creating what amount to contemporary still life paintings. Mostly, dirty dishes

As she continues to prepare for whatever the future may hold, Lori provided MOLLY+FRIENDS with a window into her creative process: including her favorite studio materials, what she likes to listen to while she works, and the furry friends that keep her company as she researches new material:

I have been cutting shapes out of polymetal scraps with my jigsaw and painting the flat panels. My process involves applying tape to the surface, carefully cutting away the positive space with a fine blade, applying multiple layers of paint to the exposed area. After the paint dries, the tape is removed to reveal sharp, definite edges. Another layer of tape is applied over the entire surface to repeat the process. This is done for every single shape, color, value, transparent or opaque. Each image is unique, as the cutting (with exacto knife) is an extension of drawing and once the tape is removed, it cannot be reused, as it does not hold its intended shape.

Golden paints are the best, and I’ve been experimenting with some of the fluorescent acrylics, mixing them with other colors rather than using full-strength. They have also made me some custom paints that I have been working with

In the past, I would alternate between listening to the news and music, but in the past couple of months I have been listening to the podcast Everything is Alive where the host interviews inanimate objects, and have started some e-books by authors Camille Bordas, Min Jin Lee. I listen to a lot of Future Islands, The Smiths, Sage Francis—all longtime favorites, and I think I find comfort in playing them. 

I have shifted my process to do more research and reading at my apartment (rather than the studio) since my boston terrier Romeo and Tonks (the neighbor’s dog) like to hang out while I read. 

To learn more about Lori’s work, visit her website  lorilarusso.com or follow her on Instagram @lorilarusso