OCTOBER 03 - NOVEMBER 02, 2002
Recent Paintings
Arrangement with Plums and Flowers
RIP-080-OP
A selection of exquisite new still lifes by painter Jeffrey Ripple will be on view October 3–November 2, 2002.
In his newest works, mostly produced with oil paint on paper, Ripple moves toward increasingly complex and ambitious compositions, which deftly capture the evanescent beauty of nature.
In the vanitas tradition, Ripple depicts the beauty of flowers in full bloom, and loose arrangements of sumptuously ripe fruit as meditations on the fleeting nature of youth and life.
Like the works of 17th century Spanish masters Juan Sánchez Cotán and Diego de Silva y Velásquez, Ripple’s objects are meticulously rendered and placed in contrived compositions in order to draw attention to the beauty of their forms and colors.
Ripple further isolates and highlights his objects by placing them against luminous backgrounds—textured negative spaces which bespeak the influences of Chinese and Japanese art.
The composition of Olives, Tangerines, and Flowers (2002), an intricate arrangement of vases filled with various types of flowers, is characteristic of Ripple's latest work.
In the similarly complex Arrangement with Plums and Flowers (2001), Ripple creates an intimate world of tumbled fruit framed by foliage and delicate flowers. The play of light and shadow over Ripple’s signature translucent paint gives the work an otherworldly feel.
Ripple, 37, received his MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His work is held in several public collections including the Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, OK; Exxon Corporation, Irving, TX; and Madison Art Center, Madison, WI. This is his third solo exhibition at Hackett-Freedman Gallery.