The Quiet Exuberance of Ani Hoover By Gwen Ito Ani Hoover in her studio in front of Sky Grater. Photo by Jim Bush The soft-spoken artist can’t remember the first thing she ever painted, but she does recall always wanting to be a painter. From an early age, she excelled in art classes and loved to draw in her spare time. When still quite young, she was already checking out library books on Vincent van Gogh. She’d spend hours copying his irises and sunflowers. Years later, the accomplished painter realizes her admiration for the post-Impressionist remains intense—it’s just the focus that has changed. "Today I see his work differently," she explains, her light-blue eyes glistening. "I look at the colors in his art more than the subject matter." Over the past fifteen years, Ani Hoover has cultivated a body of work that is all about color. Titles like Bubble Up, Vintage, and Butterscotch capture the essence of her most recent paintings, which feature a panoply of bright pastels and familiar shapes. She explains that the preponderance of circles in current work is not a conscious decision: "There’s no philosophical attachment to any one shape." But she’s become increasingly aware of her strong color palette, and more specifically, how her use of color can engage an audience. Not everyone who sees her work will have the same emotional reaction. "I know a lot of people don’t like pink or baby blue," she says, "so lately I’ve been considering toning down the colors." Ultimately, though, she’s concerned less with people not getting her work—"It happens all the time!" she laughs—and more with articulating the colors that move her as an artist. Early in her career, she aspired to be a landscape painter. She’d set her easel outdoors, prepared to capture the scene before her. But over time, she was inspired by her own rhythmic interpretations of the world, instead of the need for literal depictions. She doesn’t follow a linear approach; instead, she works on several paintings concurrently. "They just sort of feed off one another." A painting might sit in the corner of her studio for a week—or even a year—before she resumes the creative process. And if a painting is turning out badly? "I just paint over it!" the artist quips. Hoover grew up in St. Joseph, Missouri, a city that’s practically the geographic center of America. "It was a very green place with lots of trees and grass, not unlike Buffalo, except without the cultural resources," she observes. Her parents neither encouraged nor discouraged her artistic passion. "I suppose they just wanted me to find a career that would be financially practical," she smiles. After five years in Baltimore, she came to Buffalo at the invitation of a friend, but was initially skeptical about moving here. Two years later, the artist seems quite comfortable. She’s sustained by the myriad cultural outlets and, more to the point, delighted that a serious painter can transform her artistic vision into tangible examples, even on a small scale. "There’s probably not that many cities where an artist could work part-time and still afford an apartment and great studio space." When not working at her teaching jobs, Hoover can be found on the fifth floor of the Tri-Main Center. It’s there, as one of the resident artists at Buffalo Arts Studio, that she’s free to bask in the world of color that plays such an intimate role in her life. She steals blocks of time out of her day to paint as much as possible. "My ideal schedule would be to paint from noon to six," she says. In a short time, Hoover has gained a strong following within Buffalo’s sophisticated art culture—and her group of admirers continues to grow. Determined to make a living from her art, she is overcoming her shyness and learning to promote her work. This past spring, she participated in a high-profile exhibit at the Burchfield-Penney Art Center called Wet and Fresh. Currently, her work can be seen at Buffalo Arts Studio and the new gallery at the Neighborhood Collective on Elmwood. And thanks to the technical and creative wizardry of friends, a high-end website (www.anihoover.com) features a comprehensive sampling of her paintings. Hoover wants to be remembered for having produced a body of distinctive work. That, for her, would be even more gratifying than painting one famous masterpiece during her lifetime. For now, though, it’s enough of a challenge not only to share her artistic vision with larger audiences, but to allow a curious magazine writer into her private world. Gwen Ito is a freelance writer living in Buffalo. Back to the Table of Contents Back to Top