Matt Lipps

I discovered Matt Lipps in my senior show research, but feel as though I can bring inspiration from his practice into my painting studio. Lipps is a photographer who works in in-camera manipulation, collage, and extreme lighting techniques. A lot of Lipps’ work is developed through collage of the female form - something I am looking to experiment with a lot more in my painting practice. As his work lies in mostly collage, Lipps plays back and forth with abstraction and realism. This balance is something I want to bring into my paintings - a combination of both ambiguity and clear imagery. He also uses a combination of busy, collaged, and layers of colors contrasted with small important moments of negative space. Taken from Lipps’ website in the artist statement of his series Home, the website states, “Lipps’ complex visual spaces explore the medium’s relationship to memory and nostalgia, while speaking to the shifting nature of the photographic. Uncovering subtle but legible cultural and class markers, these works also weave together questions of identity construction, the familial archive, and the legacy of analog technology.” These are concepts that I find myself leaning more and more closer to in all of my artwork, and will be rounding up in my senior show. In working towards my thesis, I want to ensure I am incorporating the same conceptual ideas. In all areas of art, the medium plays a large role in its conceptual choice. Photography in general is about capturing memories, moments, and at its core, incites a feeling of nostalgia. Aware of the concepts intrinsically linked to his medium, Lipps uses that to his advantage in his conceptual work. Home uses transparency film, colored paper, and collages pieces of the photography by the infamous Ansel Adams. Through his mixed media approach and his use of collage, Lipps’ work pushes way past the realm of photography.

Although Lipps isn’t a painter, I feel I can use him as painting reference because of his painterly styles in his final images. Unlike typical photography his images are made up of several images rather than one. Focusing on color, art historical references, reproductions, and graphic elements.

Matt Lipps’ photography really excites me and I definitely want to incorporate his style and conceptual ideas for my final project and future work.