Lori Raye Erickson
With a witty combination of nostalgic materials and imagery, and issues from contemporary popular culture, Lori Raye Erickson’s work is both humorous and cutting. In work that relates to sexuality, religion, and politics, Erickson opens our eyes to ongoing conversations, and she does it in such a way that we do not mind being provoked. After all, she wants to make us smile when we are thinking about these issues. One of her open-ended series is directly related to the 2001 controversy when the Boy Scouts of America clearly stated that homosexuals could not be Boy Scout leaders. The Boy Scouts’ stance on sexual orientation provided Erickson with a forum for discussing America’s sexual mores, its inherent hypocrisy, and our desires to leave certain issues untouched. In her 2002 work entitled Gay Scout 1–50, Erickson addresses this issue directly by painting fifty sexually nonconformist scouts with as many ethnic, racial, and cultural types as there are scouts.
But not all of Erickson’s work is as topical. She also reveals a much lighter side in her painted assemblages: Legos® and lead, bunny and gunny, girls and curls. Alliterations and rhymes come easily to mind when you look at the work of Lori Raye Erickson. Perhaps it is because much of her work has the initial feel of a nursery rhyme. Or is it perhaps the direct intent of the artist to provide us with this additional thought? Trained as a graphic designer, Erickson surely knows the subtle tricks of the designer, and she uses them skillfully in all her work. Whether it is a 1950s mother with a large butcher knife or a Scout with a pink gun, Erickson continues to add the spirit to her artwork that she once felt was lacking in her graphic design work as a student.
—Mark J. Spencer
