Laurel Ann Bogen: Context
Laurel Ann Bogen's work can be contextualized in the performance art movement of Los Angeles, which places her alongside other poets whose distinct poetic voices are comprised of not just their written word but the vocal delivery of their work. It also has strong traces of the feminist movement of poetry, which is due in large part to those poets whose works have influenced her the most. While her poetry cannot be pigeon-holed into any rigidly defined categories, identifying her work as both performance-oriented and feminist can attract those with interests in these poetic movements, thereby increasing her audience.
In a way, Bogen's work can be compared to those of her Los Angelino contemporaries, poet Juan Felipe Herrera (Academy of American Poets) and the performance duo Sheree Rose and Bob Flanagan (USC Libraries): though their subject matters may differ, they all share an appreciation for and dedication to the expression of art through performance. A review of Bogen's work by Robin Schyman of Tsunami, featured on one of Bogen's websites, testifies to the artistic inseparability of Bogen's written and spoken words:
Any discussion of her (Laurel Ann Bogen) work would be incomplete without mentioning her reading style. To see Laurel Ann Bogen read is a real treat. Her poems become even more exotic when she performs them. The poem you may have read becomes a different poem as her reading amplifies it. "Havana" is one such poem. Strange and mysterious on the page, the city described becomes a character when she reads it. She transforms verbs and adjectives where she feels they will work. In "Havana," she writes, "Havana, you lick into corners." It works. (Torribio)
If one wonders where this knack for showmanship comes from, the answer is simple: theater. In an interview with Bibliobuffet writer Daniel Jaffe, Bogen states, "theater has always had a big influence on my artistic life." This is clearly evident, as she has either been a member of or founded multiple theater groups, and her performance art troupe, Nearly Fatal Women, which consists of herself, Suzanne Lummis and Linda Albertano (Torribio), is a prime example of the Los Angeles performance art scene. According to Jaffe, "The overall sensibility of the troupe’s art reminds me of the Absurdist Theater so popular in the 1970s" with "wit, insightfulness, and social criticism." The three-woman group also expresses feminist themes through its performances, themes which may draw directly from the poetry that influenced Bogen as a writer.
In an interview conducted by our group's own Jasmine Cacho, Bogen cites several sources of influence for her work, among whom are Silvia Plath, who influenced Bogen's early years, and Margaret Atwood, who strongly influenced her later years (Bogen). Sylvia Plath has written much regarding female identity and female psychology, while Margaret Atwood is highly regarded as a feminist icon. In the essay "'Just a Backlash': Margaret Atwood, Feminism, and The Handmaid's Tale," Shirley Neuman observes that "Atwood herself had been embraced as a feminist novelist by a panoply of writers and critics representing a wide variety of feminist positions.[2] She had responded initially by resisting the label feminist (a label that she noted was sometimes used by reviewers to dismiss her early work), then by carefully defining the kind of feminist she was." Neuman points to the fact that Atwood doesn't not deliberately set out to propagate notions of feminist ideals, but simply expresses feminist goals of fairness and autonomous feminine identity within the content of her art. Likewise, Bogen cannot be found taking strong political stances on female rights and women's place in society on her personal website or in her interviews, but her work speaks for itself. In the poem, "The Last Girl in the Land of Butterflies," themes of female entrapment and liberation abound:
Abandoned by my life
I take flight
from the city of angels
in a cataclysm of vivid hues
cry and shriek of sirens
call me to lift my feet and eyes
from the ground (Bogen)
In this stanza we can see a representation of death and new life which is easily interpretable as a woman grasping for freedom from the proper, structured, domestic restraints that shackle her. There are no direct mentions, however, of women's rights or liberation from patriarchal societies. Bogen is not a deliberate feminist but expresses feminist concepts through her art, which, regardless of deliberate intent, puts her directly in context with other feminist artists like Margaret Atwood.
No expression of art exists in a vacuum: it is influenced by its predecessors and is remembered in relation to its contemporaries. The feminist movement and the Los Angeles performance art movement, while not rigidly defining the artistic work of Laurel Ann Bogen, helps to clarify in what context her art can be understood. Anyone with even a passing interest in either of these movements should take special note of Bogen as a poet and performer.
In a way, Bogen's work can be compared to those of her Los Angelino contemporaries, poet Juan Felipe Herrera (Academy of American Poets) and the performance duo Sheree Rose and Bob Flanagan (USC Libraries): though their subject matters may differ, they all share an appreciation for and dedication to the expression of art through performance. A review of Bogen's work by Robin Schyman of Tsunami, featured on one of Bogen's websites, testifies to the artistic inseparability of Bogen's written and spoken words:
Any discussion of her (Laurel Ann Bogen) work would be incomplete without mentioning her reading style. To see Laurel Ann Bogen read is a real treat. Her poems become even more exotic when she performs them. The poem you may have read becomes a different poem as her reading amplifies it. "Havana" is one such poem. Strange and mysterious on the page, the city described becomes a character when she reads it. She transforms verbs and adjectives where she feels they will work. In "Havana," she writes, "Havana, you lick into corners." It works. (Torribio)
If one wonders where this knack for showmanship comes from, the answer is simple: theater. In an interview with Bibliobuffet writer Daniel Jaffe, Bogen states, "theater has always had a big influence on my artistic life." This is clearly evident, as she has either been a member of or founded multiple theater groups, and her performance art troupe, Nearly Fatal Women, which consists of herself, Suzanne Lummis and Linda Albertano (Torribio), is a prime example of the Los Angeles performance art scene. According to Jaffe, "The overall sensibility of the troupe’s art reminds me of the Absurdist Theater so popular in the 1970s" with "wit, insightfulness, and social criticism." The three-woman group also expresses feminist themes through its performances, themes which may draw directly from the poetry that influenced Bogen as a writer.
In an interview conducted by our group's own Jasmine Cacho, Bogen cites several sources of influence for her work, among whom are Silvia Plath, who influenced Bogen's early years, and Margaret Atwood, who strongly influenced her later years (Bogen). Sylvia Plath has written much regarding female identity and female psychology, while Margaret Atwood is highly regarded as a feminist icon. In the essay "'Just a Backlash': Margaret Atwood, Feminism, and The Handmaid's Tale," Shirley Neuman observes that "Atwood herself had been embraced as a feminist novelist by a panoply of writers and critics representing a wide variety of feminist positions.[2] She had responded initially by resisting the label feminist (a label that she noted was sometimes used by reviewers to dismiss her early work), then by carefully defining the kind of feminist she was." Neuman points to the fact that Atwood doesn't not deliberately set out to propagate notions of feminist ideals, but simply expresses feminist goals of fairness and autonomous feminine identity within the content of her art. Likewise, Bogen cannot be found taking strong political stances on female rights and women's place in society on her personal website or in her interviews, but her work speaks for itself. In the poem, "The Last Girl in the Land of Butterflies," themes of female entrapment and liberation abound:
Abandoned by my life
I take flight
from the city of angels
in a cataclysm of vivid hues
cry and shriek of sirens
call me to lift my feet and eyes
from the ground (Bogen)
In this stanza we can see a representation of death and new life which is easily interpretable as a woman grasping for freedom from the proper, structured, domestic restraints that shackle her. There are no direct mentions, however, of women's rights or liberation from patriarchal societies. Bogen is not a deliberate feminist but expresses feminist concepts through her art, which, regardless of deliberate intent, puts her directly in context with other feminist artists like Margaret Atwood.
No expression of art exists in a vacuum: it is influenced by its predecessors and is remembered in relation to its contemporaries. The feminist movement and the Los Angeles performance art movement, while not rigidly defining the artistic work of Laurel Ann Bogen, helps to clarify in what context her art can be understood. Anyone with even a passing interest in either of these movements should take special note of Bogen as a poet and performer.