Intro Page

Jeff Whipple's 25-year retrospective originated at the Gulf Coast Museum of Art in Largo, Florida in December 2002. That exhibition had 68 works (4 sculptures) with the 2 D works adding up to 160 running feet. The show also has a 36-page catalog and poster.

The show went to Orlando and then Naples, Florida. It is currently in storage waiting schedule for the next venue.

The show features watermedia works, pencil drawings and sculpture.

The artwork was selected by Mark Ormond, former Deputy Director and Curator of Contemporary Art at the Ringling Museum of Art. Ormond also wrote a 2000 word esssay for the catalog. Along with an essay, the 36 page catalog features reproductions of representative works from the show.

NOTE ON ORLANDO: The Orlando exhibition was cut to 25 works from the original 68 by the Orlando City Hall staff. They edited out all works with exposed breasts and several with potentially controversial imagery without regard to the purpose of the exhibit, which of course is to document 25 years of my career. Entire years of my art creation aren’t represented in this exhibit. They apparently edited the show in this way because they were afraid of what Buddy Dyer, the new mayor of Orlando would think of the artwork.

Nonetheless, after the exhibition was hung, the mayor of Orlando told the gallery workers to take the show down and send it back to the Gulf Coast Museum of Art. He said the art was “out there” and he didn’t like it. He prefers landscapes and scenes of old Florida. Canceling the show for that reason was not acceptable to the GCMA and after some negotiation, i.e. threats, the show was hung again over a week later. At first they hung 21 of the 25 works, excluding the 4 that the mayor especially disliked. That sneaky little trick was discovered by the GCMA and me and I wrote a lengthy note to the gallery director saying they have to either hang the whole show of 25 works together or the show must be canceled immediately. After two days the mayor’s office called the GCMA and said the 4 excluded works would be hung with the others.

The show was shown at the von Liebig Art Center in Naples in September and the hung as many of the original works as would fit without any consideration to the subject matter of the images.

This section has photos and descriptions of all the works in the original retrospective. I’ve noted which ones are not in the Orlando show by putting “Banned in Orlando” on those pages. Click here to see the works.

To read the Orlando Sentinel story about this CLICK HERE.

To read the Tampa Tribune story about this CLICK HERE.