Today we’d like to introduce you to Chloe Hogan.
Chloe, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I am an artist from Charleston, SC. I have been painting my whole life. I studied studio art at the College of Charleston and graduated in 2018. I’ve worked jobs in art galleries, as a studio assistant, and at the Gibbes Museum of Art, all while pursuing my career as a painter.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Oh man, it has been such a journey, and it continues to be! I feel like I’ve gone up and down on a rollercoaster of believing in my ability to “make it as an artist,” if you will… When I first started out, I was naive to the fact that artists experience so much rejection. I thought I could just make the paintings and things would happen. Not true!
There is no support handed to you- I have learned that you need to create opportunities for yourself. You need to be your own marketing team, your own biggest fan- if you don’t believe in your work, no one will. It’s a hard lesson to learn, but ultimately empowering. I know now, after about 5 years of really pursuing making art as a career, that not only do I need to create the path for myself, I can create that path. That truth makes me so hopeful.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I see my work as a collection of ruminations on memory, ego, and connection to the universe, personally and collectively. These ideas manifest in dramatically colorful, emotive paintings exploring themes of identity, performance, dystopia, isolation, and energetic exchanges.
I am interested in identity and the way the self warps and changes- we perform different versions of ourselves depending on the audience, and the reaction we want from that audience…We make ourselves change size or shape. We become more or less interesting through filters and through masks. My artwork is ultimately concerned with this performance of self, with my paintings serving as sacred records of my constant wondering: these many parts that equal me- where do they come from? From where and from whom? I wonder where my past self and my future self belong- I wonder how different or the same I am to them. I wonder if perhaps they all exist at once, gazing through time at one another, offering guidance, wisdom and support. I hope for my paintings to open portals of reflection about the self, the ether, and the interconnectedness of it all.
For a long time, I was afraid of showing myself in my work. It felt too scary.
But being an artist, locking yourself away in a studio to feverishly create what are essentially reflections of yourself- (every portrait is a self-portrait, said Oscar Wilde) is a wildly self-centered way to live. I was ignoring that. I’ve since come to realize that asking people to relate to my paintings is to ask people to relate to me, because what is art if not a desperate plea for connection? Putting myself in work is inevitable, beautifully so, and has helped me understand myself.
I distracted myself from content for the first many years of my practice by diving deeply into technique, into observation and color. I think it was meant to happen this way- the universe pointed me towards the tools that would eventually help to bring my more realized visions to life…including the future work that hasn’t happened yet. Hopefully I am on the right track to getting there.
I had a professor in college tell me, “don’t stay in every Friday night to paint. Go find something to paint about.” That was much-needed advice that I love to share with my artistic peers. Slowing down and focusing on the creative truth over the commercial “success” is so important. I think the hustle culture in the art world can be so damaging to artists. I’ve learned to reframe that time for silence, time for research, reading and appreciating other artists, and time to get to know yourself- that is all considered part of the work to me now.
I was scared for a long time that I wasn’t reaching “success” now, so that must mean I never will. Now, I understand those past rejections as a hidden blessing- the work wasn’t there yet. I wasn’t there yet- I still feel I am not! In my mind, I am nowhere near the work I’d like to be remembered for. That might sound pessimistic, but it’s the opposite to me: I know I am capable of so much growth and all I can do is continue to educate and expand myself as an artist and human.
I am both creating and describing my own internal world in my work, a world that I can escape to- but ironically, while I am working, I am forced to confront hidden parts of my ever-changing identity, and that is quite the opposite of an escape, though it makes me truly feel alive. I am finally leaning into the inextricable vulnerability that is a part of art-making. I am allowing myself to descend a spiral staircase into the depths of my being and to consciously pull from that and shout it from the mountaintops. I am just beginning to understand what it means to be an artist. I hope for my work to be a reflection of my continued learning.
Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
Reach out to artists whose work you admire! Support your community’s efforts in creating space for artists- attend openings, share each other’s work, ask thoughtful questions, buy artwork, or participate in trades! Be the engaged artistic audience for your peers that you hope to find for yourself!
Contact Info:
- Website: ChloeHogan.com
- Instagram: @chloe_hogan_art
Image Credits
Joseph Nienstedt took the portrait of me at Femme Fest with 9-5 Mag .
Chloe Hogan
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