Blake Lenoir
Blake Lenoir BFA born July 6th, 1991, raised and currently practicing based out of Chicago. As an interdisciplinary visual artist working predominantly with both acrylic and oil based paints, pastels, yet having his home medium in graphite and charcoal. Another medium that Lenoir applies to his practice is poetry, and as a poet himself, Lenoir’s work navigates and finds inspiration in the expressionist, dada, cubist, baroque/modern art and surrealist movements. With those components in mind, Lenoir executes cryptic entendres that are an experience all in itself.
Lenoir’s original work comes heavily based in distortional entendres and metaphors that he identifies act as the primary inception of ideas and/or conversations necessary to bring about relief of the given conflict in his work. Lenoir’s work is intended to both be therapeutically comical, yet cynical to the human experiences of interaction aiming to evoke conversational healing. Primarily navigating and focusing on creating work with intention to spark the conversational dispelling of generational and societal curses, Lenoir paints off the cuff, be it first or second hand experiences, you know and feel Lenoir’s work is authentic in both its execution of the work and backstory portrayed.
Lenoir graduated and received his Bachelor’s of the Fine Arts from the Western Illinois University where he minored in Sociology, he studied and specialized in intersections of Minorities in the Media and Societal Reoccurrences.
On Art + Mental Health
My journey with my mental health is like most in this current time we live in, ever-changing. With that being so my journey with making sure I’m my best self is what lead me to pursue my passion professionally. Growing up a reclusive child I used my art as a way to escape my then social anxiety now looking back, it was always an outlet of mine that cost nothing to do as long as I had tool to draw with and something to draw on. Drawing was my way to be alone in a room full of people, it wasn’t until after I studied it collegiately and graduated that I realized that it was my passion. That childhood anxiety began to resurface itself once I got my first ever corporate job in Human Resources. This job checked every box as to what I didn’t want in a job, but I needed a job. After much self reflection, hard days, sleepless nights, recognition of my plight, I chose to revert back to my old outlet to give myself a way to vent aside from common vices of drinking and smoking, which lead to me trialing a new medium because for some reason my pencil didn’t suffice the range of emotion I intended to release. It started with a few expressive pieces at first, but sure enough I “found my hand” and there hasn’t been a look back since then. I found my yes that I was looking for in this life and the impact and conversation around my work and on those whom have viewed it is more than any payment I could receive for it and is one of the thriving forces in keeping me practicing, keeping me finding my yes.