Be Scene: BGG Interviews Hannah Hooper of Grouplove

By BGG Contributor: Aria Davis

Hannah Hooper, front woman of LA-based indie pop band Grouplove, hosts her first art show this week in collaboration with the Chipotle Cultivate Foundation at the Monkspace Gallery in Koreatown. The 3-day show/installation, September 17 – 19, 2013, will feature original paintings, album art, and other artwork, as well as coincide with the release of the band’s much anticipated new album, “Spreading Rumors.” Admission is free!

BGG: Hi Hannah! To start things off: Many of our readers are more familiar with you as the front woman of Grouplove, but you have a degree in Fine Arts from Parsons and an impressive portfolio of paintings and visual artwork to your name. Can you explain a little bit about your history as a visual artist?

Hannah Hooper: I've been painting and drawing since high school. I started drawing the people and places around me almost as a tool to help me feel a part of my environment. Painting was a natural progression for me from drawing. i saw it as an opportunity to explore color and different mediums on a larger scale. While my drawings are intricate and detailed, my paintings are expressive and almost messy. When I paint I feel rebellious.

BGG: Since becoming a member of Grouplove, do you think that your aesthetic as a visual artist has changed? Do you foster your growth as an artist differently than you foster your growth as a musician?

HH: In a sense our band and my art developed together. As we grew as a band, the backdrops I was painting for our stages grew in both scale and inspiration. Our merch and album covers and all the things bands need to brand themselves came directly out of my sketchbooks from tour and reflected our experiences and vibe at the time. It seemed like a natural development but was definitely accelerated by our ever increasing demands. When I paint I paint all alone, but when I make music it is a very collaborative process. They both come from similar emotional places but one is just much quieter then the other.

BGG: In 2012, Grouplove played the Cultivate Festival in Denver, which introduced you to the Chipotle Cultivate Foundation. What drew you to the organization and the cause?

HH: Chipotle cultivate foundation helps support family farms and sustainable agriculture. My family owns an organic apple farm so I understand the importance of knowing where your food comes from and how intricate the role a family farm is in its community. I am also aware of the horrors of factory farming not only to the lives of animals but also to the environment. So it is incredibly important to support foundations like Chipotle who invest in the quality of food and not into corporate greed.

BGG: For the upcoming show, has Chipotle been more of a sponsorship arm or did they have input or ideas about the presentation of your work?

HH: They've been incredibly open to letting me show the work I want to display. Like any good partner, they recognize their strength and my strength and we each stay in our respective lanes. They've encouraged this whole project since day one, and have been instrumental in putting the logistics together, and raising awareness for the event.

BGG: And since everyone in LA is obsessed with Mexican cuisine: What’s your favorite thing on the menu at Chipotle?

HH: Christian [Zucconi, of Grouplove] and I are both vegans so when we cruise into a Chipotle we get the tofu sofritas burrito.

BGG: Back to more important topics: What should we expect to see at the art installation? Does the show have an overarching theme?

HH: The space has two rooms- one is full of art I've made for Grouplove - backdrops, album covers, five person T-shirt, posters. The second room shows a selection of tragic pop icons and underwater swimmers. In a sense the overarching theme is that in one room music made the artwork and in the other room the artwork helped me make music.

BGG: In support of the upcoming album “Spreading Rumors,” your band has just started another tour. Your schedule must be hectic, so we’re wondering: where do you find yourself creating artwork while on tour? What's the weirdest or most creative use of material you've used in your art?

HH: Last night at 1 am our tour bus left Portland to drive to San Francisco. Ryan, Sean, Christian, Andrew, our guitar tech Jeff aka "the snuggler" and I all piled into the back lounge and wrote music until 6 am. I had my sketchbook out during the jam and did some weird nail polish and pen and ink drawings that look like weird time lapse portraits.

BGG: Once the show next week wraps, we’re curious: What are your future endeavors with your visual art? Any projects in the works?

HH: Christian and I are working on putting together a book of all my tour drawings and collages and entries right now from the past few years. He has some beautiful drawings from our tours in there as well. We are thinking it would be cool to put it out with some live recordings of the band on tour.

BGG: We ask everyone in LA: Favorite diner or dive?

HH: Club Tee Gee in Atwater. It's a weird chill spot.