Last October, I made an important decision to change my life drastically. I decided to close Pippin Contemporary and have more time to focus on my artwork and pursue other opportunities.
I admit it – I’ve been a control freak many years of my life. I wanted so much for everything to run smoothly, for my children to do as I requested, for my husband’s business to do well (aside, he was in the oil and gas exploration business drilling wells for limited partnerships in the late 70s early 80s – disaster) and that the business I started in Houston would be successful (opened in 1984, sold in 2008). Being tightly wound, I achieved a lot, but I was taking steps that didn’t necessarily give me joy.
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Aleta Pippin is constantly evolving her creative practice. Over the course of her career the Santa Fe artist has poured, brushed and scraped; she’s worked with oil, acrylic and mixed media as well as canvas, aluminum and panel surfaces. Pippin is even known to incorporate digital and new media components into her paintings. “I continue to experiment which is key for my creative muse,” she says. “New ideas are continually born, some finding their way into new work.” Unchanging in Pippin’s process, however, is her commitment to color and the emotional effect it can have on the human psyche. “Color is my driving force,” she states.
Dreamland III by Aleta Pippin
While impressions from Pippin’s early life would become a key inspiration for her artistic career, she didn’t begin painting until 1992 upon moving to Santa Fe, New Mexico. Influenced by Santa Fe’s creative culture, she began taking classes and experimenting with various media and painting styles until honing in on acrylic and oils. In 2003 Pippin fully committed herself to her art, which she considered to be her third career after building a business and raising a family. “My passion for painting became realized when it bloomed into a full-time career,” Pippin explains. “I improved my technique and found my voice – becoming an abstract painter.”
Trip Through the Cosmos by Aleta Pippin
Pippin’s July exhibition, “Here We Go Round in Circles,” is indicative of her commitment to creative exploration as well as her early and ongoing passion for painting in oils – the medium she always returns to even when continuously exploring other avenues. Her love of color, as always, is consistent throughout the exhibition. Her spontaneous nature and personal life impressions also remain constant across this body of work. “I do not plan the images,” she explains. “They are intuitive interactions created by life experience, accessing my broader knowledge. The impressions of my childhood environment express themselves in my paintings. They show up as color, freedom and energetic movement.”
Aglow I by Aleta Pippin
Pippin’s return to oil – her original inspiration for pursuing a career as an artist – is represented in pieces like “Joy Spreads,” “Carried by the Wind” and “Summertime, Sunrise.” Circular paintings such as “Trip Through the Cosmos” illustrate Pippin’s current explorations painting in the round. For these pieces, Pippin uses a variety of tools including her hands or a spinner to move paint across the panel. The panels are painted with colored resin, which incorporates acrylic or oil paint, and are often embellished with copper leaf or gold leaf details. “Resin is an interesting medium,” says the artist and gallery owner. “It accentuates the surface yet is a visual block to the viewer. In a way it says come closer, but not too close.”
Here We Go Round in Circles I by Aleta Pippin
Other mixed media pieces in the show are created using this process including “Fracture II” and “Through the Portal.” Here We Go Round in Circles opens with an artist reception on Friday, July 6th from 5-7pm. Click here to preview Pippin’s work in the online exhibition catalog.
This October, an explosion of color will enliven the gallery with Aleta Pippin’s exhibition For the Love of Color. The show will run from October 12th through October 26th, with an opening reception on Friday, October 14th, kicking off the weekend of the Canyon Road Paint & Sculpt Out.
For this exhibition, Pippin is exploring new imagery within abstraction using both acrylics and oils. Vivid color continues to be central to her artistic expression with painting palettes that vary from soft mingling hues to strong contrasting colors. Swirling movement and flames of soft color rise up the canvas in Radiance, a 60×36” oil painting, while energizing motion and layers of striking hues vibrate against each other in Color Burst, a 36×36” oil on canvas.
Pippin’s intuitive painting style allows her to freely express her personal visions through abstract art. “My goal with every painting is to impart an internal expression that flows freely through me,” says Pippin. “It’s basically a narrative inspired by the paint.”
Color Burst by Aleta Pippin
Pippin is also revisiting pouring the paint, a technique she explored many years ago in her career. Feeling drawn to the free flowing movement of the paint and the ambiguity of the outcome, Pippin is now approaching the process with a broader skill set and renewed vision. New poured pieces will be on display for the exhibition including Magenta Pour, 48 x 48”, oil. Pippin says of this piece:
“In 2003 through 2005 I used the process of pouring the color. I liked the large splashes and serendipitous events occurring through the use of this process. All of those paintings were done using acrylics; I’d never tried it with oils. So in revisiting the technique, I decided to do some of the paintings using oils. I loved what happened. The color melded together differently than acrylics. I plan on continuing to fine-tune this process.”
Magenta Pour by Aleta Pippin
Read Aleta Pippin: For the Love of Color full press release and browse the exhibition catalog. You can also view new inventory on Pippin’s artist page. We look forward to seeing you at the opening reception on October 14th, 5-7pm.
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