Catherine Brooks, a.k.a. Doom Ferret, a.k.a. Psychedelic Boogie Elf, is a woman of many names and talents, but most importantly, she can paint! Brooks has lived tough in the name of inspiration; from the streets of Vietnam to the squats of downtown, Los Angeles. Over a fine session of inhaling mineral spirits and oil paints I dig into some of her classic motifs.
Nathan Cartwright: When I think of your work, I think of nature and women. Where is this influence coming from?
Catherine Brooks: Nature has always been a dominant theme for me. Sitting on a river bank in Japan, I was dismayed at the fact that of 113 rivers, all but three were paved and diked, like our LA River. At that moment, I committed myself as an artist to serve nature into the future. I enjoy making things that remind people of the beauty and importance of these things.
Nathan Cartwright: What about all those women?
Catherine Brooks: While I’m fascinated by gender, I’m against the gender roles that men and woman are oppressed by. I think it’s horrible the way our bodies are sanctioned—women being trivialized and men being criminalized. I’m pro Male-Liberation. No one calls the cops on female streakers; can the same be said for men? People should be free to choose their roles in society. I don’t feel that I have compromised my values by focusing on women. Writers are told to write what you know, I am building a story that I want to tell. Because I use non-verbal means to deliver narrative, I must have a wider vocabulary. I know that we are all naked, and through allegorical symbolism, the nude form is given its most universal power. The often trivialized physical truths of our bodies are, in the end, what connect us.
Nathan Cartwright: How about the narrative aspect of your work?
Catherine Brooks: I am fascinated by myth and oral tradition. Prominent cultural myths mutate with different associations through time (perhaps deliberately by cultural/governmental demands). The legends and tales that have evolved through time are ours to remake. I’ve added my own mythology to reflect my ideas on love, memory, and the inexplicable human personification in all things. Creation is an ending, the first and last two women immortal. Adam and Eve more resemble Icarus and Persephone, and there is nothing outside of Eden.
Nathan Cartwright: What do you have planned for your upcoming featured show in February?
Catherine Brooks: My next body of work shows more of the landscape that Isabel manifests. The pieces are bigger and more complex both in detail and psychology. I am actually quite worried that it may be too dark or too sensual. I feel I am taking just as many risks, as Persephone and Isabel struggle with the reconciliation of their desires and reality. This is fundamentally impossibly. Persephone is an everywoman, and Isabel is in fact an idea and not real at all, but like all symbols her power is potent and transmutable.