Blooming Onion : Recent works by Ani Hoover
Ani Hoover’s artistic practice has always moved between painting and fiber arts, unified by her interest in repetition, vibrant color, and the transformative potential of familiar materials and processes.
Dôme Art Advisory is pleased to announce Blooming Onion: Recent works by Ani Hoover, the artist’s first solo exhibition with the gallery.
Blooming Onion is a reference to the transforamtion that takes place when a raw, inedible onion transforms through the alchemy of heat, oil and salt into a satiating food associated with the joy of summer fairs and comfort food. It is precisely the alchemical transformation of both material things and life experiences, both universal and personal
result in Hoover's wonderfully vivid, revelatory works that move between fiber art and painting.
Ani Hoover’s artistic practice has always moved between painting and fiber arts, unified by her interest in repetition, vibrant color, and the transformative potential of familiar materials and processes. Early in her career, she developed an abstract painting style characterized by repetitive circular forms and fluid paint application. This foundation in mark-making and pattern would later inform her transition into fiber arts, where she transforms traditional craft techniques—crochet granny squares, yo-yo quilt medallions, and other handwork methods—through radical shifts in scale, repetition, and unconventional materials.
Whether working in fiber or paint, Hoover’s process embraces both methodical construction and experimental spontaneity. Through cutting, knotting, weaving, and crocheting, she creates works that accumulate layers of personal and collective memory. Since 2020, painting has reemerged in her practice through a body of work using oil bars—essentially oil paint crayons—on slightly shaped canvases. Working quickly and intuitively, she responds directly to each panel’s contours, allowing the physical form to guide her gestural mark-making. These new paintings and drawings focus on pattern and color play, incorporating symbolic imagery including cartoon shapes and references to emojis and pop culture. This approach connects back to her earlier painting practice while incorporating the material sensitivity developed through years of fiber work. Throughout all her work, the vibrant colors—drawn from both found objects and commercial art supplies—reflect her ongoing dialogue with American consumer culture and the aesthetic languages embedded in everyday materials.
Hoover’s work has been featured in notable exhibitions including “Memory” at Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center (2014), “Craft Art Field Day” at Buffalo Arts Center (2017), “Forget Me Not” at the Burchfield Penney Art Center (2021), and “Then is Now” at the Albrecht-Kemper Art Museum (2023). Her work is held in several prominent collections, including the Burchfield Penney Art Center, University at Buffalo Art Galleries, Buffalo AKG Museum, as well as public collections at Roswell Park Cancer Institute and Oishei Children’s Hospital.
About the Artist Ani Hoover is a Buffalo-based artist who earned her BFA and MFA in Painting from Missouri State University and American University, respectively. She has lived in Buffalo since 2002, where her practice continues to evolve across multiple media while maintaining consistent conceptual threads.