“Bittersweet consciousness of a body that is no longer there suffuses Erin Brott’s “Love Used to Live Here.” A lush bower of roses frames the featureless silhouette of a seated figure, rendered in luminous yellow.The gorgeously rendered non-portrait celebrates the loving relationship between Brott and a longtime partner while mourning their divorce.
Art makes the impossible possible. Despite the breakup, the portrait enabled Brott to return to bask in “memories that feel safe, places that feel safe, people that feel safe.”
“For me, yellow represents love, even in the absence of a person,” Brott said. “You still have those memories that kind of bring that love back to life.”
Look more closely and the yellow void comes alive with subtle gradations and shadings.
“A lot of times, words can escape me, so I use color to describe how I’m feeling in my work, painting certain things a more realistic color, and then really changing the hue to show a different feeling or mood, telling a story with just color,” she said.
As Ayala did with his wrestlers, Brott made the colors pop to convey maximum emotion and impact.
“Especially with queer love —there’s a lot of color in our community,” she said. “We use the rainbow spectrum to represent us. So as an artist, I’m always trying to explore and push color a little further.””
Quote from article “The Vastness of Queer Identity” by Raymond Holt for the LGBTQ+ Artist in Michigan Through June 29, 2024 Lansing Art Gallery & Education Center
