CLAIRE OLIVER GALLERY
513 West 26th Street
New York, NY 10001 Telephone: (212) 929-5949
Presents
Beth Lipman
June 24th - August 6th 2016
Distill #11
cast iron, rust patina
17x12x11 inches | 43x30x28 cm
Distill #10
cast iron, enamel, chrome plating
11x9x5 inches | 28x22x13 cm
cast iron, enamel, chrome plating
11x9x5 inches | 28x22x13 cm
Distill #8
cast iron, enamel, chrome plating
11x16x8 inches | 27x41x21 cm
cast iron, enamel, chrome plating
11x16x8 inches | 27x41x21 cm
Distill #7
cast iron, chrome plating
11x8x5 inches | 28x19x13 cm
cast iron, chrome plating
11x8x5 inches | 28x19x13 cm
Beth Lipman
Working with a vocabulary culled from Renaissance and Baroque still-life paintings, Beth Lipman employs the traditional, heavy laid table as a metaphor reflecting our current consumer society. She uses a combination of technical achievement, symbolism and sensuality, expressive light and opulent decoration to translate static, painted composition into three-dimensions. By pushing and playing with the tension and fragility that is inherent in her chosen material, the Artist’s sculptures speak to mortality and the vulnerability of life. Lipman's clear glass frustrates the eye with its absence of color. The viewer desires to posses the object as we know it to exist; a red apple or golden goblet are made ephemeral by their transparency. We look through the object and are reflected in it; one cannot visually own it.
Compelling her objects to defy gravity, Lipman hangs vessels dangerously off table edges and attaches creatures in precarious positions. Like these elaborate scenes, the Artist's half-eaten morsels, overturned goblets and snuffed candles symbolically depict the transience of life. The presence of these objects continues to symbolize the good fortunes of wealth and prosperity -- their abuse, the misfortunes of waste and decay. Lipman’s work suggests that the line is transparently thin. Beth Lipman’s work has been exhibited at many prestigious institutions including the Smithsonian American Art Museum (DC) The Art Institute of Chicago (IL) Brooklyn Museum of Art (NY) Institute of Contemporary Art (ME), John Michael Kohler Arts Center (WI), Milwaukee Art Museum (WI), The Museum of Art and Design (NY). Ms. Lipman currently has work on view in Crafted, Objects in Flux at Boston Museum of Fine Art.
Working with a vocabulary culled from Renaissance and Baroque still-life paintings, Beth Lipman employs the traditional, heavy laid table as a metaphor reflecting our current consumer society. She uses a combination of technical achievement, symbolism and sensuality, expressive light and opulent decoration to translate static, painted composition into three-dimensions. By pushing and playing with the tension and fragility that is inherent in her chosen material, the Artist’s sculptures speak to mortality and the vulnerability of life. Lipman's clear glass frustrates the eye with its absence of color. The viewer desires to posses the object as we know it to exist; a red apple or golden goblet are made ephemeral by their transparency. We look through the object and are reflected in it; one cannot visually own it.
Compelling her objects to defy gravity, Lipman hangs vessels dangerously off table edges and attaches creatures in precarious positions. Like these elaborate scenes, the Artist's half-eaten morsels, overturned goblets and snuffed candles symbolically depict the transience of life. The presence of these objects continues to symbolize the good fortunes of wealth and prosperity -- their abuse, the misfortunes of waste and decay. Lipman’s work suggests that the line is transparently thin. Beth Lipman’s work has been exhibited at many prestigious institutions including the Smithsonian American Art Museum (DC) The Art Institute of Chicago (IL) Brooklyn Museum of Art (NY) Institute of Contemporary Art (ME), John Michael Kohler Arts Center (WI), Milwaukee Art Museum (WI), The Museum of Art and Design (NY). Ms. Lipman currently has work on view in Crafted, Objects in Flux at Boston Museum of Fine Art.