“Jiobu’s process is instinctual and fluid, informed by her physical experiences—swimming, surfing, dancing to James Brown—yet the work never slips into literalism. Instead, her canvases radiate exuberance, serving as visceral artifacts of motion, joy,
and freedom.”
George Bayer, Artist/Filmmaker
I paint in acrylic on wood panels and canvas, layering color through intuition and revision. Movement and stillness — decades of dance, hard workouts in the pool, Zen practice — shape everything I make
I work primarily in acrylic on wood panels — sanding, drawing, layering because it provides immediacy. I keep several paintings in progress at once, moving between them intuitively, letting each inform the others. I have extended into fabric design using traditional mediums as well as digital tools. Color is the constant.
My work is shaped by decades of movement: ballet, swimming, and an MFA in Dance from CalArts. Years at the Merce Cunningham Studio were formative. So is Zen Buddhism, which I practice in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki. These aren't separate influences; they've dissolved into one another and into the work.
I think of each finished painting as an artifact of its own making — a record of decisions, instincts, and revisions. Composition and color are deliberate. Everything else is allowed to surprise me.
"Laurie Jiobu’s work pulses with a raw, kinetic energy that seems to echo the call of the ocean itself—a force she cites as both muse and metaphor. Her acrylic paintings, often created in rapid succession due to the medium’s fast drying time, exist as living documents of movement and change. Jiobu’s process is instinctual and fluid, informed by her physical experiences—swimming, surfing, dancing to James Brown—yet the work never slips into literalism. Instead, her canvases radiate exuberance, serving as visceral artifacts of motion, joy, and freedom. Beneath this vibrant surface, there is also a quiet, contemplative current. A longtime student of Zen Buddhism, Jiobu brings a mindfulness to her practice that balances the wildness of her subject matter with an ongoing search for stillness. Zazen, with all its quiet rigor, shadows her expressive gestures, lending the work a meditative depth. Her reverence for the natural world is palpable—not as a subject to be tamed or captured, but as an elemental presence to be danced with. In Jiobu’s paintings, nature isn’t observed; it’s embodied.
George Bayer, Artist/Filmmaker
Collectors (selected)
The Edyth and Eli Broad Foundation, Los Angeles, CA
Matt Higgins, Chatham, NJ
Bobbi Brown, Montclair, NJ
Greg Grasmehr, Los Angeles, CA
Josh Nadell, New York, NY
Hyatt Regency, Taipei, Taiwan (commission)
Toyo Printing, Tokyo, Japan
Kaiser Permanente. Santa Rosa, CA
PacifiCare, Newport Beach, CA
Joaquin Horton, San Francisco, CA
Jack Sullivan, San Francisco, CA
John and Ann Reynolds. Piedmont, CA
Exhibits (selected)
Jack Fischer Gallery (on-line juried exhibit)
Huntington Beach Art Center, Huntington Beach, CA
Triangle Gallery (solo show), San Francisco. CA
Gallery Sho, Tokyo, Japan
Don Soker, San Francisco
Doizaki Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Iri Lasorda Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Marin Arts Guild (curated by Richard Baker, SF Chronicle), Larkspur, CA
California Institute of the Arts Alumni Exhibit, Valencia, CA
Education
California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA
University of California, Los Angeles, CA