Markman, Lori, “Barbi 1952-2011,” oil on canvas, 48″ x 48,” 2015.
I made this painting as a memorial to Barbi who was my best friend from childhood to the time she died.
She died far too soon. She was lost in her last years. The inspiration came from a child hood photo of Barbi in a yellow plastic boat floating in her pool. After reading from Cultural Water Studies, I started to think more about the poetic reality and nature of water. Water, the ocean, where life was created on this planet. Water that continually circulates through the oceans, through the rivers, from underground springs, from our pipes, our showers, our faucets, our sprinklers and hoses, raining down, and evaporating up– only to circulate again and again in a never ending flow of ever-changing, ever-same water. Water which is both permanent and completely impermanent. The water that was in Barbi’s pool is still a part of the rain, the ocean, the rivers. Even a part of the fog and mist. Barbi loved weather. She would appreciate that.
I believe her essence is like that of water. Ever here, constantly circulating, constantly changing, yet in its essence, always the same. No longer lost, she is part of everything, she is found.
About Lori Markman:
Painting, drawing, always searching, always exploring, always in flux. The human condition is my subject.
I am a Los Angeles Artist. I work in a variety of media: contemporary figurative oil paintings, nude pastel figure drawings from life, abstract pencil drawings, and in a variety of styles: realism, expressionism, impressionism, surrealism, pop, magical realism, cartoon and graphic art, college and mixed media.
Text and image provided by Lori Markman, June 2021.
Cultural Water Studies 