Mevlana Lipp’s Sculptural Work on Velvet Glimpse Otherworldly Alternate Realities — Colossal



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#Mevlana Lipp
#portray
#vegetation
#wooden

“Velvet paintings” might evoke visions of midcentury kitsch, because of artists like Edgar Leetig (1904-1953) and a requirement for mass-produced decor. However that phenomenon is simply a fraction of the historical past of portray on velvet, a convention that’s believed to have emerged in Kashmir, the place the material was first produced. The silky materials’s fantastic pile absorbs mild, offering a singular substrate for work on which pigments seem to drift on a contrasting, deep black background.

Mevlana Lipp redefines the style by meticulously rendering otherworldly botanicals that writhe and unfold amid decorative components. Acrylic paint, sand, and ink are utilized to meticulously reduce picket panels, that are then laid excessive of velvet. Fantastical and glowing as if considered underneath a black mild or synthesized, the blooms and vines counsel an alternate actuality wherein vegetation tackle suspiciously human behaviors or options, like arms or eyes.

“My work always has to do with longing for this other place, where things are still connected on a deeper level, where thoughts don’t occur and instincts take over,” Lipp tells Colossal. within the relationship between order and chaos, he typically makes use of symmetry or repetition as a foil to the natural curves of his topics. In his most up-to-date work, the artist has been experimenting with the theme of a grid or gate.

“Claw” (2024), wooden, velvet, acrylic shade, ink, sand, aluminum stretcher, 45 x 33 centimeters

When Lipp visited Venice earlier this yr to see the inaugural exhibition of Capsule Shanghai new location, the place he will likely be presenting a solo present subsequent month, he was fascinated by the burglarproof steel bars affixed to residential home windows. “They oftentimes are highly artistic, sometimes floral or more architectural in shape,” he says. “I like the idea that they are like a barrier, separating the inside and outside—these two worlds—and making a transition between these two difficult.”

Conceptually, the grid transforms into what Lipp describes as “a net of responsibilities and social contracts” all of us comply with, affording glimpses of what lies past but bodily barring entry. In his work, the limitations operate as metaphysical gateways between our recognized realm, our primordial origins, and our potential to grasp our personal evolution. “The place on the other side might be too wild for homo sapiens, but it is still tempting to take a look between the bars from time to time, peaking through a window into our distant, feral past.”

Lipp can even have work quickly within the group exhibition TICK TACK at Kunsthalle Recklinghausen in Germany, which opens on August 24. Discover extra on the artist’s web site, and comply with Instagram for updates.

“Visitor” (2023), wooden, velvet, acrylic shade, ink, sand, aluminum stretcher, 80 x 60 centimeters

“Fire” (2024), wooden, velvet, acrylic shade, ink, sand, aluminum stretcher, 200 x 150 centimeters

“Curiosity” (2023), wooden, velvet, acrylic shade, ink, sand, aluminum stretcher, 80 x 60 centimeters

“Tension” (2024, wooden, velvet, acrylic shade, ink, sand, and aluminum stretcher, 45 x 33 centimeters

“Orbit” (2023), wooden, velvet, acrylic shade, ink, sand, aluminum stretcher, 150 x 110 centimeters

“Growth” (2023), wooden, velvet, acrylic shade, ink, sand, aluminum stretcher, 120 x 90 centimeters

“Pulse” (2023), wooden, velvet, acrylic shade, ink, sand, aluminum stretcher, 80 x 60 centimeters

#Mevlana Lipp
#portray
#vegetation
#wooden

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