invited me over to his mansion/art
gallery outside of Canterbury. My
I USED TO CREATE TERRIBLE MONSTERS AND
boyfriend and I went there and
stayed for a few days. The place was
DEVILS SPURTING BLOOD, OR WAR SCENES WITH
amazing. A whole colony of artists
lived in the vast attics and there were
MUTILATED BODIES. MY RELATIONS WOULD LOOK
exhibitions in the vaulted rooms
downstairs along with garden parties,
AT ME (A CUTE LITTLE GIRL IN A PRETTY, FRILLY
theatrical pieces and concerts on a
weekly basis. I loved it.
DRESS), THEN LOOK AT MY DRAWINGS, AND
About a year later my boyfriend and I
SLOWLY EDGE AWAY.
split up, and I moved into that crazy
house because I had nowhere else to go. From there I
rented a fl at in a friend’s house in London. I never wanted to How large are your pieces? And from where do you ABOVE:
live in London. It just caught me like a fl y in a web: the more draw your inspiration? Leashed Passion
I struggled, the more I got entwined. I eventually created a My pieces are anywhere between 6 foot and 14 inches. RIGHT:
life and a circle of friends here. Now I love it. The English I draw my inspiration (pun intended?) from thoughts, Mirror Mirror
are my kind of people: absolutely mad. feelings, books, TV, fi lm, music; whatever I can get my
greasy little hands on.
So on to the art. How would you describe what you do?
As insane. I developed this totally tedious, bone-breaking And what’s on your easel at the moment?
yet unique way of drawing using an iconography that I’ve I am working on a show entitled “Weapons of Mass
been perfecting since childhood. When people ask me Delusions”. The idea for it started years ago when the Iraq
how long it takes to make a picture I am tempted to tell war was being sold to us over the news channels. It was
them, “a life-time” [or] I usually make up some number, but fascinating to see the way governments and media worked
to tell you the truth I have absolutely no idea. When I am on frightening us into going to war. There were mythical
“in” a drawing, there is no time. That may be a blessing. If deadly weapons that could wipe us all out within minutes.
I were to sit down in front of a huge, blank piece of paper I don’t think anyone was too surprised when no weapons
and think, “This will take me months to fi nish!,” I’d feel too were found.
overwhelmed and depressed to start.
I remember sitting and watching the news while
I work on paper with pencil and charcoal. The look and eating my dinner. Peoples homes and lives were being
tone? Some fi nd it dark, some fi nd it amusing, some think destroyed by bombs. A child’s arms were blown off and
it looks surreal, others think it’s a kind of psychological he was screaming. It suddenly struck me as obscene:
realism, most think it falls in-between “isms”. Maybe I watching people suffering in the comfort of my home with
created a new “ism”? “Liptonism”? Who can say. Everyone commercial interruptions about cars and washing powders
has their own opinion. The only thing everyone agrees on is
the detail. You can’t see the amount of detail on a computer It was appalling. I began to do drawings about the media,
screen or in a photograph, but once you see one of my celebrity, power, and passive watching. I hope to get the
drawings in the fl esh the detail and amount of work in show to a number of venues around the USA
them is what hits you hardest. and England.
Ë
20 WWW.DANGEROUSINK.CO.UK LAURIE LIPTON
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52