Irene Lipton

I have always been moved by the idea of image and meaning developing from random marks and gesture. Arshile Gorky, Adolf Gottlieb, Myron Stout, Peter Busa, Elizabeth Murray, and Bill Jensen were some important early influences.

I initially began by finding a visual language of hieroglyphics—literally finding—through erasure, using graphite on paper. My process went on to involve layers of spontaneous gesture—paint would build and be scraped away, lines creating edges, edges creating shapes, resulting in a complex interplay of multiple elements. More recently, the focus has been increasingly on the lines themselves and the gesture embedded in them, along with a single unifying figure.

There have always been figural components in the abstraction. These have now become overt, with the feeling of a body, a physical presence, made up of many elements within and without, internal and external, forms nesting, weaving, supporting and connecting.

Gesture is a core force. I begin a painting as I always have, with marks and blocks of color and random shapes. I have slowed the movement of the gesture, of the line, and am aware of every nuance. A black shape begins to form and grow in scale. The edges define the form and separate it. Within what becomes this figure, the movement of my hand drawing white lines starts to create interior shapes and networks of forms. In the weaving of multiple lines, every edge is considered, the slightest shift in weight matters. The painting finishes when a multi-dimensional building of organism and the ground that contains and supports it feels complete.

Irene Lipton holds degrees from CUNY, Hunter College, NYC (MFA) and SUNY, New Paltz (BFA).

LP 702. Oil on Canvas. 54x64

LP 501. Oil on Canvas. 54x64

MP 1303. Oil on Canvas. 36x36

Untitled 12-04. Oil on Canvas. 16x16

LP 702. Oil on Canvas. 54x64

LP 501. Oil on Canvas. 54x64

MP 1303. Oil on Canvas. 36x36

Untitled 12-04. Oil on Canvas. 16x16

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