Stacza
S. Lipinski Artist statement My most recent work is a collection of large paper constructions cut out of painted vellum and attached to the wall. The shapes of the cut-outs reference animals, plants, architectural decoration, obsessive doodles, body parts; all overlap, weave, sweep up and down and turn in on themselves forming a continuous field of exploding color. The shapes and colors I use in the pieces are influenced by a number of things. Sometimes the images are personal, sometimes they are influenced by an exhibit’s theme, or it may be a B-movie or even the architecture and history of the building where piece will be housed that stimulate the way I approach an installation. “Zaftig” at the Noyes Cultural Arts Center simultaneously ascends and descends the staircase, using repeating black and pink images. The swollen, sensual shapes are at once voluptuous and creepy. In the piece “It begins and it ends,” the shapes and layers directly reference images from traditional vanitas paintings. Symbols of abundance, over-ripeness, and growth emphasize the brevity of life creating homage to the tradition of vanitas painting and a direct reminder to pluck the day. In the piece “House of Wax,” the shapes and layers reference the female form, dripping flesh, and red lipstick. For “Out of the Woodwork” at the Evanston Arts Center in 2006, I pulled from botanical imagery from the woodwork on the staircase to creep along the wall and up the window, echoing the vines on the outside of the building and bringing nature inside the space. Another piece at the Evanston Arts Center in 2007, “Snag,” was my response to a story about a shipwreck in Lake Michigan steps from the center itself. |