Laurie Lipton’s Art Shows How Consumer Culture’s Absurdity Is Trapped in a Timewarp

Transmission 114: Interview with Laurie Lipton

Laurie Lipton is a contemporary artist from New York, renowned for her large-scale pencil drawings filled with dense, cross-hatched line work and deep imagery. She has lived in Holland, Belgium, Germany, France, and London, and has resided in Los Angeles since 2011. Laurie Lipton was the first person to earn a Fine Arts degree in drawing (with honors) from Carnegie-Mellon University in Pennsylvania. Since only abstract and conceptual art were taught at the time, she attempted to teach herself to draw in the style of the 16th-century Dutch Masters after being inspired by the religious paintings of the Flemish School. As a student, she traveled around Europe, which helped develop her unique sketching style, involving hundreds of delicate cross-hatched lines to build tone. Her drawings take longer to produce than paintings of the same size and detail, but the resulting brilliance and richness make the effort worthwhile.

Her monochromatic drawings often depict scenes from a futuristic yet archaic civilization, featuring corrupt politicians, housewives, and mindless consumers glued to their screens. Her artwork delves deeply into interpersonal relationships before expanding to address societal issues. Although Laurie’s work is incredibly perceptive, it is also dark, intricate, and expansive in scope. Laurie Lipton challenges audiences by exposing them to the complexities of modern life, both within society at large and on an individual level. Her artwork is also intended to be viewed closely, as she invites the viewer to glide over intricate and detailed compositions.

Sometimes her work takes on a dark tone, and other times it reflects on social, political, and personal issues, such as greed, spirituality, murder, excessive materialism, media consumption, and sexuality. At other times, she encourages the audience to explore and reflect on life and its frailties. Laurie Lipton seeks to convey “reality” as she perceives it by translating what she sees, thinks, and feels, facilitating access to a complex and occasionally frightening world, often with a sense of humor.

Featured image: “Death and the Maiden 2005”, 17”x13.4”, pencil on paper © Laurie Lipton
Laurie Lipton‘s official site, Facebook, and Instagram

Can you share with us what first drew you to art? What are your best childhood memories related to art? 

I started drawing when I was around 4 or 5. I loved it, and got a lot of compliments and encouragement. My dad used to take us to museums on Sundays, and that was a magical place for me. Looking at painting and sculpture made me feel and think things I had never felt or thought before. Art was my gateway into mystical realms.

What life experiences or philosophical ideas influenced the surreal aspect of your artwork? Which artists, movements, or periods have had the most significant influence on you?

My work in neither real or surreal, but inhabits that in-between world of the subliminal. The works of Goya influenced me the most. He not only documented what was going on in his era, but also in his head. I had an exhibition with Goya at the Cervantes Institute in London a while ago (humble brag!). I made work inspired by his lithographs and “updated” his themes to modern times. You can find some of the exhibition on my website under the Series entitled “Sleep of Reason”. I also adored the highly detailed work of Jan van Eyck, Memling and Bosch. Detailing worlds down to the tiniest blade of grass always held a particular fascination for me.

What are some of the biggest challenges you faced as an artist working in such a detailed art medium in the beginning? Conversely, what are the most rewarding aspects of your artistic career?

The biggest challenge was trying to get people to accept what I did. My university only had degrees in painting and sculpture in the 1970’s, so I constructed a drawing major for myself and was the first person to graduate from Carnegie-Mellon University with a major in that medium. Galleries would say to me, “We love your work, but do you paint?”, so I had to waitress and do odd jobs to survive in order to afford to draw. The most rewarding aspect of my artistic career is being able to live off of my art work at long last. The ability to draw all day, every day, is like heaven to me. I feel very lucky and grateful.

Laurie Lipton has been widely exhibited across the USA and Europe.

In your artwork we can see  skeletons  and details that connect to “The Day of the Dead” as a recurring inspiration. What drew you to using these figures in your narratives? How did you develop your unique style? How did the idea to portray human behaviour  and make a bridge to  explore death and mortality in your art begin?

When my mother died it affected me deeply. I wanted to draw about it, but couldn’t. My culture doesn’t know how to deal with death. People said, “Sorry your mom passed”…they couldn’t even say the word, “died”. Then my Spanish friend took me to Mexico to experience the Day of the Dead Festival. She thought it might help me to cope, and it did. I was inspired by the humor, the “normality” of mortality. Images started pouring into my head. My first Day of the Dead show of drawings was hosted by the Mexican Embassy in London, which was a great honor for me. I have done many other exhibitions since, on many other themes, but the Day of the Dead work seems to be very popular online.

Your works are incredibly intricate. Can you walk us through your creative process from conception to completion? How do you manage the physical demands of your drawing technique? 

The older I get, the harder it gets! I start out with a title. The title gives me an image. I play with the image on scraps of paper. Then I decide how big the image will be and start to doodle on a bigger piece of paper. I erase for around 2 weeks until I get the composition “right”. The drawing gets more and more detailed as I dive into it. Sometimes it turns out totally different to my original idea. I try to allow the work to take me to where it wants to go. People always ask, “How long did that take to make?” I never know. I don’t want to know. I just sit down to draw and go bye-bye. It is fabulous… like a drug… a constructive drug.

“Black and white is the color of ancient photographs and old TV shows… it is the color of ghosts, longing, time passing, memory, and madness. Black and white ached. I realized that it was perfect for the imagery in my work.” — Laurie Lipton

Are there specific practices or routines you follow to maintain your precision? How do your personal experiences and worldview shape the narratives in your drawings?

Yes there are specific practices I’ve developed over the 65 years, but I won’t go into them because they’re too numerous to mention. Yes my personal experience, worldview, and feeling shape my art. How? No idea. I have never tried to make “sense” of creativity. It seems like magic to me, and I treat it as such, with reverence and awe.

Your artwork often balances dark themes with a touch of humour. Do you think it is an important key to making your message more impactful?

I have a dark sense of humor, so my work mirrors that. I need it to cope.

Love Bite: Laurie Lipton and Her Disturbing Black & White Drawings is a short documentary by James Scott focused on her art style.

Your recent work delves more into societal issues, compared to your earlier. What prompted this shift in focus?

Yes… I’ve gotten much more political. How can I help it? We are living in unprecedented times. It has affected me deeply, emotionally and intellectually. I could not stop myself.

Is there any of your artwork that you are particularly connected to that has a special meaning? Can you share with us the story behind it?

I finished a 20ft long Triptych, with doors that open, at the beginning of this year. I’d always longed to make a triptych in the style of Jan van Eyck. When I lived in Bruges, I used to take the train to Ghent to visit his altarpiece in a small church that was a short walk from the station. I was the only person in there, aside from the guard, and he let me get up very close to see all the zillions of brush-strokes that Van Eyck made to create The Lamb of God triptych. I had the time and money and space, finally, to try to make my own altarpiece. Instead of Heaven on Earth created by Christ’s return, I updated Van Eyck’s theme and depicted hell on earth, created by mankind and climate change. It’s called “SMOKE”. Van Eyck painted a gazillion lines of egg-tempera to create his piece. I used a gazillion pencil lines to create mine. I am very proud of it. Photos don’t do it justice.

Her drawings are likely so distinctive because she has always steadfastly followed her own tastes.

Artists prolific like you create their own art piece without limitations of imaginations. Unexpected challenges and human life put/change priorities. For example Covid-19 made many art events in a stop setting. Do you have a project that you dream and love to undertake and that is still on pause?

Yes. I would love to finally have a show of the work I did during Covid. Museums and large galleries have become frightened of political themes and challenging topics. I want to connect up with a bold and innovative venue that is open to showing powerful, uncompromising, but darkly humorous work. Know anyone?

She uses magnifying glasses for some of her artwork and invented a stick that hooks over her drawing table so that she never has to touch the paper, preventing smudging.

Technology can be a double-edged sword. How do you see its impact on your life, and with your art? Since we live in the social media and A.I. era, what are your thoughts and how do you see the future?

People always scream whenever there’s a technological advance. They hated electricity, television, and the internet to name a few. Technological advances always bring the good along with the bad. AI can help doctors diagnose disease faster and can run through information in seconds to help scientists. It can also steal from actors and artists without their consent and plagiarize their work. There have to be laws put in place to protect the vulnerable. How do I see the future? I have no idea what will happen, but I have to hold on to some modicum of hope…. otherwise why bother to create art?

Photos courtesy of Laurie Lipton

Dominique Musorrafiti

Ciao! My name is Dominique. I’m Italian and I’m proud to be a mix. My father was an Italian chemical engineer and high school teacher, with Greek and Polish heritage. My mother is Haitian, she was high school language teacher, with Dominican, Spanish, French, Portuguese, African and Native American heritage. Being a mix makes me appreciate to want to understand different cultures and lifestyles. I grew up in Italy, lived few years in Haiti, travel around main European capitals, lived many years in China, in Spain and UK. Traveling makes me feel that we can learn something from every situation in every part of the world.