Saturday, May 31, 2014

Jeffrey Lipsky, Artist

Passion is what defines what happens at Cat's Art MusikCircus more than any other single drive.  Passion is what drives Cat to spend seven years of her life bringing the music to you and passion is what drives the performers to play it.

Passion is exactly what I see in Jeffrey Lipsky's art.  His abstracts are usually highly dramatic and aggressive and his power is clear from the first work you see.  I met him first as Filthy Flumo years ago in Second Life.  Later on I met him at a show in Providence, RI, in which he was presenting his art and Cylindrian Rutabaga / Grace Buford was performing on-stage.

But I didn't really get enough of a grip on Jeffrey's work until, get this, I saw it on Facebook.

The reason I mention Jeffrey is because I just wrote about Voodoo Shilton's new song in "Voodoo Has No Name at Cat's Art MusikCircus" as we have the privilege of watching him develop it.  There has been that same privilege recently with Jeffrey as he has been working up this piece.  (I don't think it has a title)


(30" x 30" - Sold - Sorry about slapping the text for 'Jeffrey Lipsky' over the center of it but we can't have anyone nicking it.)

Just as with Voodoo talking about a song he is developing, Jeffrey put a preliminary study for the painting online some time back and asked for thoughts.  A number of people, me among them, wrote back that I see this or I see that.  Jeffrey wasn't asking what to paint but rather what do you see as the interpretive reality we bring to things can vary tremendously.  Ask cops about an eyewitness.  They're usually unreliable in court.

Every so often, Jeffrey would upload the latest 'draft' of the painting and never was he soliciting advice on what to do, it's important to emphasize that.  This isn't a community or a collective painting or some such.  Just as with Voodoo, Jeffrey would listen to what people had to say and then he would go off to think about things.  Sometime later another 'draft' would come and then again the question what do you see.  That may sound repetitive but actually it was evolutionary and it's a privilege to be a part of it.

For my own judgment, I think the painting is magnificent and it shows me the musician scratching and clawing while all the time playing, playing to get downtown in the distance.  Jeffrey has a deep love of music and it's a frequent theme in his work.  There are multiple layers to peel but that's what I see up-front.  It's a beautiful job and, yes, it is sold.  However there may be digital prints available.  Contact Jeffrey Lipsky on Facebook to learn more.


(There is neither payment nor consideration for what I write.  If I don't like it, I ain't writin' it.)

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