"There are so many different ideas of what love is based on gender, age, race, etc. This makes you wonder what truly defines love if everyone’s life experiences are so different. In bell hooks’ All About Love, she explains her theory of love, providing us with a definition and seven traits that create a loving relationship. In this series, Love is as Love Does explores those seven traits through an abstract style inspired by artists such as Mark Rothko, Wassily Kandinsky, and Pablo Picasso. Inspiration was also pulled from psychology ink blot tests and the popular international movie “In the Mood for Love”.

Love is as Love Does uses abstract art to lead the viewer to their own opinions of the seven traits given in All About Love. The seven green canvases were designed as a meditative test, asking the viewer to meditate on the blot until it forms an image. These canvases were inspired by the artist Mark Rothko and the psychological inkblot test. The seven red canvases explore our modern ideas of love, often seen as black-and-white. These pieces draw on the art movement Cubism and the movie In the Mood for Love. The green and red square canvas frees the word love from a constricting font into a smooth, free-flowing font. The canvas series ends with a call-to-action piece inspired by Stevie Wonder’s Love Is in Need of Love song in the artist’s style of Wassily Kandinsky."

ABOUT BRI
I am an abstract painter, and art director based in Spartanburg, South Carolina. I have earned my Master’s in Strategic Design from Furman University in partnership with Miami Ad School at Portfolio Center. I also hold a Bachelor of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of South Carolina Upstate. During my free time, I enjoy walking on trails, overthinking, and creating the perfect glass of tea.