Which Way the Wind Blows
By C.J. Lori | October 23, 2020
August was hot and dry, as every year in Boston gets hotter and drier. Leaves on the trees are tinged with yellow long before summer is even over. The pandemic has pushed climate change into the background, despite a surging season of fires, hurricanes, floods and drought across the country. All over New England, weakened trees are felled by wind. Everything, everyone struggles to endure.
I want my paintings to be uplifting and attractive, but I can’t ignore what is happening. For years, I have tried to incorporate beauty with horror, and this fusion has never been as poignant for me as it is now. I mourn all of our losses and yearn for escape, while every day remaining determined to embrace the magnificence of nature around us. It is a delicate and sometimes elusive balance.
C.J. Lori, “The Green Leaves in Summer,” oil on canvas, 24” x 30” 2020
“The Green Leaves in Summer” will be on exhibit in the National Association of Women Artists (NAWA), Massachusetts Chapter exhibition Art & Activism, October 28 – November 23, 460 Harrison Ave., Suite C-6, Boston, MA. Contact NAWA for more info.
Copyright © 2020 C.J. Lori
C.J. Lori is an oil painter living in Brookline, Massachusetts. Her work reflects her interest in literature, anthropology and psychology, as well as an abiding fascination with the natural world. She has exhibited in solo and group shows throughout New England, and in New York and Chicago, including the Danforth Museum in OFF THE WALL, and Figure, Fantasy and Illusion, Selections from the Arthur S. Goldberg Collection. She won first prize in Paint!, a national exhibition at the South Shore Arts Center. Ms. Lori is represented by 13 Forest Gallery in Arlington, Massachusetts and Array Contemporary in Boston.