
"The Ambivalent Genesis of Being," oil on canvas, 40" x 50", 2010
| ARTIST’S STATEMENT by Jeff Whipple |
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My artwork has always been fused with my philosophy of living, which is to register, chronicle and respond to life. In recent years I’ve made art about the amazing miracle of the individual cognizant being and its random brief appearance in the infinity of time. To represent that brief appearance in various subjective contexts, I’ve used a symbol comprised of three irregular three lines. The symbol represents an individual life. My artwork examines the way life is valued and the legacy we all have been given by the countless lives of our ancestors. The symbol has been in my artwork for 28 years. The three lines depict the basic perception of pattern: one element alone has no meaning, two could be coincidence but three is a pattern. It became a life symbol because the pattern of the most basic spasm of movement is what distinguishes the animate from the inanimate, the living from the dead. I call the symbol a “Spasm”. Each Spasm has the three lines but they all are slightly different to refer to the individuality of each life. Spasms are used in my artwork in many different ways and each particular meaning depends on the context. If the viewer understands them as a symbol for life they will arrive at their own interpretations about how the symbols interact with the imagery.The figures with Spasms over their eyes may refer to how some people see the world through their life experiences or through the experiences of others. Or they are trying to see some meaning in life. In some of my images people are covered with Spasms. This could represent how our lives are affected by the people who lived before us. Or it could be about people who are burdened or blessed by other lives. Or the figures could represent whole societies or civilizations. There are images of Spasms melting or burning like candles to represent how lives continually drip or melt away towards death. In some works hundreds of Spasms form a solid mass or fabric, which could represent groups of people, communities or human history. The Spasm began in my artwork in 1982 as a painterly element. I used the 3 markings as a repetitive pattern that suggested it wasn’t random. At that time I began presenting realistic images within fields of colors and markings and I’ve continued with that same format ever since. I initially used the Spasms to define space in the fields of colors and create moods or visual rhythms. They were sort of like percussion in music and sometimes they were like stitching that wove the composition together. The Spasm began as a design motif to support the imagery and it has now moved to the forefront to become the imagery.
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