The Queen of Bones…Laurie Lipton

The legendary and prolific artist Laurie Lipton has been doing a lot of shows in my hood lately, in and around Los Angeles, and I am excited to see one of her pieces in a group show this fall at La Luz de Jesus Gallery. Her finely detailed drawings are amazing in their depth and luminosity, especially so when you realize how she creates these masterpieces. She uses pencil and charcoal, and builds her subjects with tiny crosshatch lines, gathering creative atoms until the entire world she has envisioned comes together on the page. Each piece is indeed an entire world unto itself, and sweeps the viewer up in emotion and history. Her drawings are like windows into the past, where our ancestors are living their lives in front of our eyes, but they look as they do in the present – skeletons and corpses, dancing, posing, laughing. She also exposes the secret decay in society, hidden behind the shiny architecture of capitalism and consumerism, but spreading its putrid and foul stench underneath the Febreze and Lysol-coated surfaces of our dwellings. One of my favorites, being a chip-on-the-shoulder Communications major, is “Prime Time,” where a happy couple sits in front of their television, oblivious to their catacomb-like den, surrounded by death. I think it is such an apt image for our time, where people sit watching wars on their flatscreens, inviting violence and negativity into their spaces, and call it both “reality” and “entertainment.” Lipton is a true master, and an artist whose works will stand the test of time. Her work resonates with our fascination with the past, and our fear of death, in a way that will be relevant for generations to come. If you are in the New York City area, be sure to check out her solo show, “Carnival of Death,” at the Last Rites Gallery in October. After the jump, explore the art of Laurie Lipton.