work was shown in a citywide student show at Lever House. “That was my first exhibit, and I was hooked,” she said. Day’s own work combines the more functional with special sculptural angular pieces that explore her own self-discovery as an African-American woman. Day is a member of Long Island City Artists and participates in LIC Arts Open. A wellestablished artist, Day has shown both in the United States and internationally. After a successful holiday sale, Day and BrickHouse’s next big event is a hunger relief event called LIC Empty Bowls. The Manducatis Rustica restaurant will host the LIC Empty Bowls event on Wednesday, March 8, from 5 to 8 p.m. at 46-33 Vernon Blvd. In exchange for a $25 donation, all are invited to share a simple meal (donated by the restaurant) and take home a beautiful handmade bowl created by local artists from BrickHouse. A national organization raising awareness for hunger, Empty Bowls, working in conjunction with Here’s Life Inner City’s March event, will raise money toward supporting 25 innercity, church-based soup kitchens and food pantries with food, toiletries and household products for those in need. The empty bowl you leave with is intended to serve as a reminder of all the hunger and empty bowls in the world. brickhouseny.com Lori Klopp Graphic designer, illustrator and painter Lori Klopp describes her work as “narrative, editorial, often irreverent and satirical.” Her bold and colorful style also connotes a thinking person’s approach to the ridiculousness of the world, in the way a New Yorker cover or old issue of Mad Magazine might. When pressed about any influence the creators of Alfred E. Neuman might have had in her work, Klopp responded, “I have to confess that I did read Mad Magazine as a kid. So yes, it probably wormed its way into my head to do permanent damage. Whenever I do a portrait, I just try to capture the personality of the subject.” For examples of this, one just has to explore Klopp’s Pinup Parody Series, which takes the absurdity of the depiction of women in American illustration throughout the years and turns it on its head. “After studying the images of women made by men over the decades, I became fascinated by the absurdity of many of them — particularly the pinups from the mid-20th century. I kept wondering what would happen if someone did the same thing with men. How would people react? We are used to seeing women portrayed as stupid sex kittens, but what about men? So I decided I had to do it. It started with one painting, inspired by the calendar illustrator Gil Elvgren. I have been surprised by the range of reactions to the series. To me, it’s obviously satire — a feminist statement. But every once in a while, someone will interpret them literally, and that kind of freaks me out.” Her larger-than-life portraits of Monica Lewinsky and Hillary Clinton are wonderfully bizarre in the lightness and celebration that they portray. “With Hillary, I was celebrating her big personality, her ambition and drive, things we usually admire in men, but, as we have recently seen, not so much in women,” Klopp said. “Some people think that since it’s not flattering and pretty (whatever that is), that means I don’t like Hillary. I actually do like her, and I voted for her. And I think she would have made a good president. But my purpose in doing the portrait was to capture her attitude. By the way, I painted that in early 2013, way before she announced she was running.” The current political climate has affected Klopp’s work and left her with new goals. “So far, I have done a small portrait of Myron Ebell, a climate change denier who led Trump’s EPA transition. Now I’ll have to do Scott Pruitt if he’s confirmed by Congress. If this election has had any positive effect, it is that people like me who have been going along la-de-da these past eight years will get our asses in gear and start raising hell. Nothing like a repressive dictator to motivate us lazy artists! For me, I see an emerging mission to educate. Not sure how to accomplish that, but it’s a goal.” Klopp is an Astoria-based artist who uses Astoria Park to keep her sane. “I walk and jog there several times each week,” she said. “I love the view across the river of Manhattan at sunset. It’s got to be one of the best people-watching places in the world, especially on Sunday afternoons when entire families go down there. Old men and their show cars, young guys on their tricked-out bikes, grandparents and babies, teenagers perched on the railing. I also love that I have neighbors and friends from other countries and cultures. There’s definitely an odd, contradictory combination of things here: bleakly utilitarian and garishly ornate, international yet naive and provincial. Queens is like the South in that respect, loaded with nonsensical contradictions. Perhaps that’s why I feel comfortable here.” loriklopp.com Photos courtesy of Lori Klopp Photos courtesy of Ellen Day FEBRUARY 2 0 1 7 I BOROMAG.COM 17
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