SPOONFUL of
SUGAR

When the $2 Art Contest began, I thought it would be easy to sit on my rear and judge other people’s work. Turns out, it isn’t quite so simple.  A glass of wine is always helpful when figuring out whose work to feature, and how to word all the rejection letters.  Chocolate or goat cheese are excellent substitutes for a fine wine, in my humble opinion.  But this month’s Featured Artist finds her comfort in gnocchi.

I have a soft spot for portraiture, as you all well know.  However, I also have an attraction to typography and work that doses out a sometimes less than palatable dose of vinegar with a spoonful of sugar. Ha.  Now you can sing THAT song for the rest of the day.  It is frequently the attempt of my own work, so I suppose I am just self-absorbed enough to be attracted to it in others’ work.

This month’s artist has
a voice that will not be silenced:
and I suspect she doesn’t care what we think, either way.

The Featured Artist chosen from the May and June entries is Terri Lloyd. Lloyd’s work, quite simply, makes me clutch my guts laughing, then, once I’ve caught my breath, I say, “Hmmmm.”  I enjoy the guiltless laughter at vibrant work with both a message and a sense of humor.  I am inspired to remember that we are not invisible, you and I, and WE decide how to use our gifts.

FEATURED ARTIST:
Terri Lloyd

Terri Lloyd is a San Francisco Bay Area transplant that has called Los Angeles home since 1980.  Under the influence of a Sixties latch-key-kid youth, the circumstances of a working class life did not provide the conventional means to an art education or experience.

“It has been challenging, but I refuse to let the institutions get in the way of my education.  Knowledge is now available at our fingertips.  There is no excuse for ignorance.  Ignorance has become a choice.”

Introduced to the Apple Macintosh in 1987 a love affair with digital art was born.  Terri has never viewed computer generated imagery as a movement.  The computer and software are tools.  How the operator chooses to use them remains as individual as any other artist working in any other medium. 

“I compare the work I create
to advertising.”

“It’s about formulating the right message first, and not becoming a sporting event half-time fiasco that baffles the viewer with high tech circus tricks.”

Terri’s approach is something that she terms a “whole-istic Zen,” which emulsifies decades of commercial and graphic arts expertise into pointed, often controversial visuals.  Seasoning her images with pun and insinuation, all the while thumbing her nose at conventional wisdom and other popular absurdities.

She currently resides in Northeast Los Angeles with her husband, three cats and one boisterous macaw.

But I wanted Lloyd to weigh in on the “Pink Buddha” image to which she has become inextricably linked:  “Pink Buddha is a mythological creature who appears from time to time planting whimsy and baby headed flowers, reminding us to lighten up and stop taking ourselves (especially artists) so very seriously.

I suppose the significance to me is that I want a happier mythology, or creation story.  I don’t like what religion, dogma, ideology does to people.  Sure, there’s some good, but then again look at what is happening around the world.  We need a better, nicer story about who we are and why we are here on this small blue marble hurling through space.”

What do you consider your media? Are you a graphic designer? Or may I suggest Art Terrorist?  “I guess I’m a story teller mostly. A sort of chimera, part graphic designer, part digital artist, part performance artist, another part absurdist (okay, smart ass).   I like ‘Art Terrorist.’   I might change it to “Art Terri-ist.” (My ego again, sorry.)  I think I’m a surrealist or absurdist with photographic and digital execution.”

Talk to me about how you work, your process. Do you have special terminology that you have developed for how you work?  “The Pink Buddha video was shot using a cheap digital camera.  I’ve also created prints with linoleum, and silk screen.  Oh and I’ve even made prints using the now defunct Print Gocco.”

“The terminology I use for how I work is ‘riding the crazy train’.”

You know we have to talk about food: “Well, I believe the tree of life is made from pasta.  I love Italian food. Gnocchi brings me great comfort.  So does lasagna.  But I also love Indian food. I’m a nut for saag paneer and dal.  I love fish, and the cockroach of the sea, shrimp.”