When I walk into my studio I am really there to see what shows up.
I have learned that painting requires attentiveness---to craft, to materials, to time spent.
It requires the quiet that allows you to see the images or lines of inquiry that obsess you---to allow "the soft animal of your body to love what it loves"1 - to be in your own life, to stand in your body's response, and to let go of expectations. Its working goal is authenticity; its tools are imagination, with its sidekick energy; and its secret is stamina.
Painting is a physical art with materials you can choose but over which you have limited control. In my case no matter how I begin, very soon the paper talks back, words pour into my mind, and sometimes-inexplicable images appear. It is an interactive experience and surprises always emerge.
As a painting takes shape, it becomes its own reality, and additional marks are dictated by this reality. Animated by energy, at its best the painting becomes energy.
Some of my paintings contain recognizable images—narrative, words around which images swirl and public/political references. No matter the form, painting is a deeply personal experience. In my case life experiences flow from my youth, my children, my family, America, onto paper or canvas tacked to a wall.
1 Mary Oliver, "Wild Geese", Dream Work, Beacon Press, 1986
"Narrative goes through these paintings like weather systems. They are full of stories, half-thoughts, politics, family and history. They come fully loaded. Anna Belle Loeb is a southerner and her art flows from a southern consciousness. It is quick, laconic, comedic and tragic. It does not stand still. It is full of contradictions and the complexity of good conversation. It is dedicated to meaningful engagement... These paintings are beautiful. Rich color and texture vibrate before our eyes. We sense the memory of Bonnard and further back, the dense intensity of Persian Art. At their best they are fully realized and distilled - they hold the energy of their creation with strength and integrity. However they are restless and at times unnerving. They have the bite of graffiti and the ferocity of an uncompromised stare. They do not suffer fools gladly. They are street tough and sharp. While they seduce and engage our senses they can at times tear at our consciousness. They can break our hearts. This is full bodied painting: rich, complex, uncompromised and freeing."
- Tim Hawkesworth