A Conversation with Lanie Cherry

The Brown Art Institute’s Annual Juried Exhibit  recently wrapped up its showing throughout the Granoff Center. In order to promote some of the artists showcased in the incredible exhibit, I reached out to the awardees of this year’s show for interviews. 

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Hi Lanie (@alainaaart)! Congratulations on being awarded first prize for your contribution to the Annual Juried Exhibition! To spread the word about the show and give students insight into your work, I wanted to ask you a few questions. I appreciate you taking the time to speak with me.

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Firstly, could you tell me a little bit about yourself? What can we find you doing on campus?

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My name is Alaina Cherry. I like to go by Lanie but either is fine. I’m currently a junior, and I’m studying cognitive neuroscience and visual art. On campus I’m a gender sexuality peer counselor, meiklejohn and meiklejohn leader, and staff artist and up-in-coming editor in chief for XO magazine. This semester I’m taking Painting I and Social Practice: Art in Everyday Life. 

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Could you tell me a bit about the work you’ve submitted to the show? 

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The work I submitted to the show is called With You all the Time. I used oil paint, acrylic paint, and collage for this piece. When I was coming up with the idea, I knew I wanted to do a painting about the dualities of Black womanhood. Specifically, the expectation to be sexy and sexual in contrast with the expectation to be domestic and maternal. When you add the dominant white patriarchal society, more and more expectations come up. I worked on this piece during winter break, so I had to find ways to take reference photos without being at school. I messaged my childhood friend, Kristina, and asked her to meet me at Wholefoods for a little photoshoot for the painting. I hadn’t seen her in probably 6+ years, so it was nice catching up with her as we worked together. I knew I wanted her to be holding a cucumber and putting on lip gloss, indicating the sexual expectations. I had her pick up different objects while applying lip gloss. I landed on this image of her grabbing a bottle of wine. I felt like it gave a grocery store, domestic feel while also alluding to the trope of “mom with the well needed glass of wine after a long day.” As for the background, I wanted to fill the space with real magazine images that display this dominant societal expectations. Eyes, hands, sexual references, beauty advertisements, whiteness, fill the space, as they fill the minds of young Black women. The title comes from the film Don’t Worry Darling. This film is polarizing in a lot of ways, and the racial and patriarchal interplay really interested me. Alice, the main character, sings “With you all the time,” which is a song her husband sings to her unconscious body when he is outside of the simulation, and she is trapped inside. I thought With You all the Time would be a fitting title because of this reference but also how these expectations and stereotypes are with you all the time, and fill our world. See what things you can find in the collage!

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Tell me a bit about your art practice generally! What themes interest you, what mediums are you most confident in?

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I’m most interested in representing Black women and the complities that we go through. I am also very interested in themes like patriarchal and racial oppression, the media’s influence on perpetuating patriarchal standards and white supremacy, and interpersonal racial and sexual violence. I also want to generally celebrate the beauty of Black womanhood. Painting is a healing process for me; it helps me celebrate myself. I love using lots of different colors in my faces to capture all of the dimension and depth that Black women carry. I am most confident in oil paint; I find that it allows me to accomplish my goals the best. I’m also interested in the ways that the oil painting practice was dominated by white men in the past and art in general continues to be an institution structured on gendered and racial hierarchies.

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Are there any artists that particularly inspire you?

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 I take inspiration from Njideka Akunyili Crosby, a Nigerian artist. She is a fantastic portrait painter who utilizes collage in such rich and interesting ways. Her work is extremely elaborate and meaningful and it really speaks to me. I also take inspiration from Kehinde Wiley, an American painter who paints fabulous and vibrant portraits that really capture Black culture. He painted President Obama’s portrait. 

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Finally, what’s up next? Is there any work you’re excited to be developing now that we can look out for? Where do you see your artistic practice headed? 

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I am definitely going to continue exploring these themes and advance my technical abilities. I want to increase my scale and make larger, more elaborate paintings that I take my time on and really develop. Right now I’m working on a 4.5 ft x 6 ft painting, my largest yet. I’m excited to see how it turns out. 

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On behalf of the Brown Art Review, I want to thank you Lanie for giving such rich insight into your work! To those reading, you can still visit With You All the Time in the Granoff Center through April 16, and you can see more of Lanie’s art @alainaaart on Instagram.