Alexander Lipnicki

Statement

Seeing art in person has an effect that cannot be replicated with photography. I was amazed the first time I saw brushstrokes in Van Gogh paintings because they are not visible in books. Seeing the 3D texture added a new component to a familiar piece, allowing me to personally connect with the artist's hands. Since then I have been fascinated with texture in oil paintings. Additionally, I have been interested in monochromatic paintings, such as Klein's IKB series. I make monochromatic paintings where the detail is not expressed via color, but as texture. Using thick oil paint, I apply a random painterly texture that I carve lines out of, forming valleys in the painting. Line spacing is determined by converging reciprocal series.

Artworks

1/sqrt(2)^n is a monochromatic texture painting with vertical and horizontal lines drawn at intervals of 1/sqrt(2)^n. 1/sqrt(2) is the ratio of the length of a leg to the hypotenuse in an isosceles right triangle. Making lengths in powers of 1/sqrt(2) divides the canvas into irrational parts like 0.70710... but also rationals such as 1/2, 1/4, etc. Carved thickened lines converge to the x and y axes and on top of each other as n goes to infinity. Squares decrease to zero area on the diagonal, while various rectangles form from mixing powers. To emphasize the textural versus traditional color component of a painting, this piece is painted in pure white. Quadrants are made through a reflection of two canvases over a black backdrop.