Weird Art, In Person: Laurie Hogin

Laurie Hogin's work on display at Koplin del Rio

The perfect opportunity has arrived for you to get up close and personal with our next featured artist's work. Located in a salon-style viewing room in the Seattle neighborhood of Madrona, Koplin del Rio gallery is debuting its brand new space with the work of Laurie Hogin, the artist behind the cover of our Summer 2025 Issue. 

With its brightly colored animals and their human eyes, barren landscapes, and fluorescent fruits and fungi, Laurie’s work draws you in with its inviting, flashy aesthetic, all the while unsettling you as you notice nothing is quite as it seems. An anxiety lingers in each piece, a tension created by the pull of the cute and welcoming alongside the push of the unnerving that becomes apparent the longer you look.

The animals in Laurie’s art often represent humanity and its place in the current world; they are mutants and hybrids not happy with their situation. Their hybrid nature points to the theme of so many of Laurie’s pieces: survival. Evolve, or die.

Evolving, or mutating, as Laurie often calls it in her work, is about surviving in changing conditions. It’s about transforming in response to an environment that is being altered with toxic substances, both physical and psychological, the kind that exist in the minds of humankind and leech out onto every living thing. Involved in this is the theme of diversity as strength. Evolution requires a variety of genes and ideas in order to work. Too much of the same DNA in a population can cause an extinction event when a disease or environmental shift comes calling. 

Throughout the exploration of these heavy themes across her whole body of work, the fluorescent fruits and fungi, rainbow fur and feathers, and whimsical sweets and surprises bring a sense of humor to otherwise dark topics. Because evolution doesn’t have to be a completely unpleasant process. What is poisonous is often also beautiful—take poison dart frogs, for example. The display of their toxins is exactly what draws us in. Laurie’s art showcases this juxtaposition between a world ravaged and beings thriving despite it all.

Getting to experience these vibrant colors and the detail of the texture in the fur and feathers is reason enough to come see Laurie’s work in person, but another is the frames. Laurie creates the mountings herself, and they are works of art in and of themselves. Playing off the excess of framing in museums and ornate churches that signify the importance of the piece they encompass, Laurie parodies this aesthetic of wealth and creates a “gilded weirdness” by showing her art in these sparkly or marbled frames, often with appliques in the corners that emphasize the subject of the painting. Sometimes even the title itself appears in bold letters, spotlighting the theme.

Koplin del Rio aims to foster discovery, conversation, and connection in Seattle’s art scene. With community at the forefront, and an intention to cross-pollinate between mediums, Koplin del Rio invites artists and art appreciators to come together in their new space.

The gallery is open to everyone and is currently appointment only, so reach out to them at edelrio@koplindelrio.com or via text at (310) 415-6172. Laurie Hogin’s work is expected to remain up for a few more weeks, making now the perfect opportunity to schedule a visit.

We can’t wait to show off her work in our upcoming issue, slated for publication on the summer solstice.