Thursday, April 3, 2014

Natalie Lanese


What is the motivation for making your work?

American culture and my experience with it are behind the motivation for my ideas. This ranges from places I’ve visited to behaviors in society I have observed as well as nostalgia for American history. It’s fascinating to me to look at old advertisements, to see how men and women are portrayed, how society was back then. My motivation is to make a comment on these things, though it be an open-ended with much interpretation is left to the viewer. Also most recently it’s been about overwhelming the viewer because I am often overwhelmed with places and their nostalgia.

What is the main theme of your work?

Overwhelming the viewer with scale of the work, loud color and patterns. By using common imagery, like donuts and hot dogs for example, anyone can have a response to my work. Places that I’ve been to influence the theme of my work, and the popular nostalgia that is associated with these places, Coney Island and Niagara Falls for example. The piece “Panorama” on the other hand, mimics my experience being in the mountains which can be overwhelming sometimes. It can feel as though you are very small and insignificant. I use food in a lot of my pieces because it symbolizes American culture, and also the nostalgia associated with certain foods like corn dogs and donuts. Food also symbolizes the excesses of American culture. Ultimately, I’m trying to present serious issues in a humorous way. Humor is an important part of my work and my life. 

What are your goals for your work?

I have a lot of goals. I’ve been lucky to show in a number of galleries and in a museum exhibition, and I hope to keep on showing. Because a lot of my work is site-specific, I welcome any chance to show it. I had my first public-art experience recently, and I feel like this could be a new type of venue for my work, with potential that I hadn’t seen before.

What are your thoughts on the Toledo arts scene?

It’s been a real treat to be here for the past year and a half. I was pleasantly surprised with the arts community after moving here from New York. But there is room for growth-it would be great if more artists participated in the community and even were driven to open up more spaces or have more events. Toledo is such a great place for that to happen right now, for there are so many spaces available. It’s relatively easy to have an idea here and make it happen, especially as a young person with limited resources and there is a demand here for art, so I think it would be welcomed.

You can see more of Natalie's work at Natalie Lanese.







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