Exploring the world opened up by a work of art
This month’s showcase:
Lawrence Gipe
“Bradford “
Oil on canvas, 60″ x 60″
This painting takes my breath away . . . literally and figuratively. “Bradford” (a borough in West Yorkshire, England) by Lawrence Gipe is of a real scene from the Great Fog of 1952, where a winter cold snap combined with an anticyclone and windless conditions, trapped pollution, largely coal induced from chimney stacks, gripping the area for a week.
Thousands died.
Not so pretty.
But the painting . . . absolutely gorgeous. The fog, turned a sickly shade of yellowish brown as it mixed with thousands of tons of soot, under the imaginative hand of Gipe, takes on a nostalgic beauty rarely captured in a painting, as if cloaked in a shroud of mystical romance. The light, all but extinguished from below, is rather viewed from above as crisp sunlight on a frigid morning, glistening on a bed of wispy cotton punctured by a perfectly symmetrical grid of the peaks of chimney stacks. Completely mesmerizing. This painting is utterly horrifying and magically enchanting all at the same time.
And that’s why I love it. Gipe’s paintings are anything but one note. They honor the breadth and complexity of an experience, and they honor my capacity and interest as a viewer to fathom a wider range of emotions.
This painting made me think about global warming, automatons, living in forced community, loneliness in numbers, isolation, cold, the luxury of breathing, power, strength in numbers, feeling totally alive, the jolt you get from completely foreign experiences, the closeness of death and beauty.
Go ahead. Give it a try. See where your mind takes you.
…And don’t forget to breathe.
Previous Featured Artwork Posts
Out of Isolation #1 – Lawrence Gipe – 04/9/2020
Out of Isolation #2 – Wosene Worke Kosrof – 04/16/2020
Out of Isolation #3 – Elena Zolotnitsky – 04/23/2020
Out of Isolation #4 – Oscar Camilo de las Flores – 04/30/2020
Out of Isolation #5 – Nikolai Atanassov – 05/07/2020
Out of Isolation #6 – Harry Carmean – 05/13/2020
Out of Isolation #7 – Chris Blum – 05/20/2020
Out of Isolation #8 – Patrick Duegaw – 05/27/2020
Out of Isolation #9 – Carlos Gomez Mojica – 06/4/2020
Out of Isolation #10 – Christie Marks – 06/22/2020
Out of Isolation #11 – John Anderson – 07/04/2020
Out of Isolation #12 – Yasser Dib – 07/16/2020
Out of Isolation #13 – Rodger Roundy – 07/30/2020
Out of Isolation #14 – Patrick Graham – 09/30/2020
OUT OF ISOLATION #1
Out of Isolation #1 Exploring the world opened up by a work of art This week's showcase: Lawrence Gipe, "Thames, 1946" Oil on canvas, 48" x 60", 2017-2018 While it is evident that these merry souls are not practicing proper "social distancing", they certainly do exude a familiar sense of isolation in an otherwise dark and moody time. To be more precise, Gipe's [...]
OUT OF ISOLATION #2
Out of Isolation #2 Exploring the world opened up by a work of art This week's showcase: Wosene Worke Kosrof "Queen of Words II," Acrylic on linen, 25" x 20", 2017 The world according to Wosene Worke Kosrof is one of non-stop talking. Everything and everyone can't seem to get enough of the latest gossip of a thousand story tellers that fill the [...]
OUT OF ISOLATION #3
Out of Isolation #3 Exploring the world opened up by a work of art This week's showcase: Elena Zolotnitsky "After the Shower," Oil on paper, 24" x 23.25" custom framed Time to reflect is an unexpected luxury of "Isolation." An expansive opportunity made possible by being forced to stop . . . then listen, look, imagine, feel . . . repeat. Until suddenly, [...]
OUT OF ISOLATION #4
Out of Isolation #4 Exploring the world opened up by a work of art This week's showcase: Oscar Camilo de las Flores "El Gran General" Conte crayon on paper, 79" x 50.5" The "Big Macs" are his balls. . . . but wait there's more, much more. . . . OMG, TMI. Made you look. Too much information can be disturbing, deadly in [...]
OUT OF ISOLATION #5
Out of Isolation #5 Exploring the world opened up by a work of art This week's showcase: Nikolai Atanassov "Last Days of the World" Oil on canvas, 70" x 207" Spoiler Alert! Isolation Mandate to End on "The Last Days of the World." In the Apocalypse According to Nikolai Atanassov, his painting brings all humanity together melded in a sea of vibrant Turner-esque [...]
OUT OF ISOLATION #6
Out of Isolation #6 Exploring the world opened up by a work of art This week's showcase: Harry Carmean "After the Bath" Oil on canvas framed, 33.5" x 27.5" In this time of Isolation, to touch — a basic yet potent essential life force — has become fraught with hesitation, anxiety and fear. "Art is a form of contactless consolation when the most [...]
OUT OF ISOLATION #7
Out of Isolation #7 Exploring the world opened up by a work of art This week's showcase: Chris Blum "Fake News" Mixed Media Diorama Framed in Box - 13.5" x 13.5" x 4.25" Art is work. It doesn't just somehow happen to us. It provides new material, new places, new paradigms with which to think — And the rest is up to us. [...]
OUT OF ISOLATION #8
Out of Isolation #8 Exploring the world opened up by a work of art This week's showcase: Patrick Duegaw "The Builder Removed" Acrylic, ink, screws, and polyurethane on sheetrock with aluminum frame, 23.5" x 16", 2008 Patrick Duegaw's 2008 self portrait "The Builder Removed," is oddly prophetic, revealing just how ahead of his time he really was, and really is (mask and goggles [...]
OUT OF ISOLATION #9
Out of Isolation #9 Exploring the world opened up by a work of art This week's showcase: Carlos Gomez Mojica "Dialogo Con Mis Excesos" Charcoal on canvas, 55" x 71" Coping in a time of Isolation and unease — as seen in Art. Carlos Gomez Mojica's "Dialogo Con Mis Excesos" (Dialog With My Excesses) posits as many questions as it answers. Still, this [...]
OUT OF ISOLATION #10
Out of Isolation #10 Exploring the world opened up by a work of art This week's showcase: Christie Marks "Everyday India 5" Mixed media, paper bags, ink, oil, acrylic on panel, 30" x 24" "All lives don't matter." "All colors are not equal." Ah, the power of Now, that even two broken pots can be seen as an emblem of protest. You bet! [...]
OUT OF ISOLATION #11
Out of Isolation #11 Exploring the world opened up by a work of art This week's showcase: John Anderson "Untitled 1978-12" Acrylic on canvas, 60" x 96", 1978 "Cradled in deep space and warmed by the sun, from earth we see the heavens in their spectacular display. We have been nurtured here and protected by some extraordinary fate. I am in awe at [...]
OUT OF ISOLATION #12
Out of Isolation #12 Exploring the world opened up by a work of art This week's showcase: Yasser Dib "Shaam" Acrylic on Japanese rice paper, 7' x 7' Every good Mandala worth its salt (or more notoriously, sand) is an ephemeral meditative journey towards enlightenment, peace and transcendence — big concepts indeed, all in short supply these days. And numerous Mandalas also dangle [...]
OUT OF ISOLATION #13
Out of Isolation #13 Exploring the world opened up by a work of art This week's showcase: Rodger Roundy "Don't Get Above Your Raisin' " Acrylic on mounted panel, 24" x 30" Ah, the wonderfully weird and wacky world of Rodger Roundy. At first glance it's akin to children's fairy tale fodder filled with action and fantasy. But don't be fooled. Rodger packs [...]
OUT OF ISOLATION #14
Out of Isolation #14 Exploring the world opened up by a work of art This week's showcase: Patrick Graham "Further Studies: Lark in the Morning " Mixed media on board, 35" x 47" The following are excerpts from the artist Patrick Graham about the making of art, not specifically about the work featured here, but about the making of art as he has [...]
