Browsing by Author "Flippen, Paul, committee member"

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Open Access
Collecting my thoughts
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2012) Grossett, Laura, author; Simons, Stephen, advisor; Dormer, James, advisor; Moseman, Eleanor, committee member; Flippen, Paul, committee member; Lehene, Marius, committee member; Steingraeber, David, committee member
This work is based upon the accumulation and slippage of memory in relation to loss. Through shifting line work and the layering of printed semi-transparent sheets of paper, I acknowledge the imperfection, selectivity and collection of thoughts and experiences that shape an individual. These relief prints are inspired by personal reflection on moments passed and relate to my life. My subject matter alludes to feelings of absence but also functions as a memory trigger, each object depicting a link to specific events. The viewer is allowed access to images related to my past but seen through the window of their own life experiences.
Open Access
Drawing interventions
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2009) Reckley, Amy, author; Lehene, Marius, advisor; Kokoska, Mary-Ann, advisor; Voss, Gary Wayne, committee member; Kneller, Jane, committee member; Flippen, Paul, committee member
I make drawings. Even if I use color and three-dimensional elements in my work, I think of my practice to be that of drawing. The questions I attempt to explore in my work are grounded in the contemporary art discourse that combines two and three dimensional practices into an elastic definition of drawing. My works play off of flat surfaces and into space serving as a confrontation that questions the definitions that separate two dimensional (painting/drawing) and three dimensional (sculpture/installation) practices. In response to specific locations and architectural structures, I fluctuate between perspective and physical presence. I reflect upon a particular set of structural conditions set forth by existing spaces (comers, rafters, stairs, ceilings, walls), and engage possibilities within those spaces with specific materials, gestures and divisions. All of the elements in my work converge to suggest singular situations or moments that are between flux and stasis. My works play upon the notion that psychological spaces are comprised of experience, perception and memory. As architectural interventions on the familiarity of spaces and perspective, drawings play out in sequences of destruction and reinvention. Preexisting perceptions of structures and spaces are broken down to create the illusion of something more fluid, vulnerable and impermanent. My work presents the possibility that the real, the actual and the illusion that one element may or may not signify a particular reality can exist within a singular space.
Open Access
Drawing questions
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2012) Croghan, Nicholas, author; Kokoska, Mary-Ann, advisor; Lehene, Marius, committee member; Flippen, Paul, committee member; Mackenzie, Matt, committee member
In my artwork, the questions I am interested in are those that begin with our experience of the world. Specifically, the connections between an embodied subject, the environment and the different roles the senses play on the temporality of consciousness. Other enigmas that have occupied my mind are those regarding the relationship between self and other and how to create an art that provokes a participation in the inter-subjective living moment. To investigate these themes I create two and three-dimensional objects which provide a multi-sensory experience that is aesthetically engaging, conceptually provocative, and layered with levels of meaning. To invoke a fascination in these ideas, I have used intricate and evocative imagery, incorporation of kinetic and interactive components, and elements that change with time or different environmental conditions. Important is a necessary mobile perspective that breaks the viewer free from a static cone of vision and seduces him or her into a labyrinth of puzzles. Formally I juxtapose various materials including silverpoint, transfers, vhs tape, polarized screens and found objects with supports ranging from folk art-style assemblages to meticulously crafted panels and glass. Subtractive processes such as carving, erasing, and veiling constitute another aspect of the layering that gives rise to the finished piece. Employing these materials and processes with subject matter that is representational as well as abstract, narrative, or illustrative of mechanical and anatomical diagrams allows me to take the viewer from a place of the known to one of not-knowing. Every work is both a sensory and cerebral playground in which one can investigate the curious nature of perception. It is important for this exploration to absorb the viewer in multiple epiphanies that lead to questions, self-reflection and a state of being conscious of consciousness. My art practice is inspired by the mutual arising or transactional interaction between the viewer, myself and the art experience.
Open Access
Dualisms in the Italian countryside
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2012) Davis, Jamie, author; Yust, David, advisor; Sullivan, Patrice, advisor; Flippen, Paul, committee member; Butki, Brian, committee member
In my paintings I explore the duality between referential and abstract forms. I believe human nature seeks to make clarity out of chaos. In my works, I provide direction for my viewers without giving all the information with the intention that they piece the imagery together. This body of work was influenced by what I saw of the Italian countryside in the spring of 2011: cypress trees, figures, archways, Renaissance iconography and hilltop cities, which were perfectly contrasted against the natural landscape. These forms serve as a springboard for the creation of highly abstract images. Through the use of impasto paint and linear drawings, I explore the connection between geometric and natural forms.
Open Access
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(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2009) McGrath, Meghan, author; Yust, Dave, 1939-, advisor; Sullivan, Patrice M., advisor; Coronel, Patricia D., committee member; Faris, Suzanne, committee member; Flippen, Paul, committee member; Beachy-Quick, Dan, 1973-, committee member
My current work, as a painter, is interactive and personal. Patterns of communication, relationships, and personalities are represented through family portraits. I am interested in dissecting characteristics and connecting them visually. Rather than nostalgia, memory serves as a visual history. The portraits become metaphors for maps describing time, place and linear movement.
Open Access
Forms of transformation
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2019) Nelson, Christy, author; Osborne, Erika, advisor; Emami, Sanam, committee member; Flippen, Paul, committee member; Dik, Bryan, committee member
I find used, soiled, discarded, often familial objects and using art agents like encaustic, stretcher frames, and pigment, I change them into new things. This resonates with Bill Brown's Thing Theory which deals with human-object interaction and the shift in perception of an "object" to a "thing." Some of my newly recreated "things" expose holes or scars that can be closed and opened similarly to a wound that is perpetually re-opening and re-healing. Rachel Sussman, Kiki Smith and Louise Bourgeois are three artists who also deal with differing types of healing in their art. Though there are some similarities in how we approach repair, my work revels in the process of tangibly redeeming salvaged forms and freezing them in a moment of restoration. This experience is empowering to me, as it provides a form of therapy and is often a magical interaction. Beyond the symbiotic interaction of the found-objects compelling me to remake them and the process-based catharsis they in turn offer me, I seek to engage the audience with these pieces. As the viewer sees the transformed artworks, I remind them that renewal is possible and ask them to be active participants in the process.
Open Access
Humanity unmasked
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2009) Scott, Stanley James, author; Dormer, James T., advisor; Simons, Stephen R., advisor; Beachy-Quick, Dan, 1973-, committee member; Flippen, Paul, committee member; Lehene, Marius, committee member
The darker facets of human nature drive my work. The figures you see in these prints and drawings are very real depictions of, and responses to, internal conflict. These figures offer the viewer a deeper level of understanding of the human condition as present both within the artist and society as a whole. I am particularly interested in the elements that make us uncomfortable and the aspects of ourselves we deny. These unexpressed emotions are the source of the tension in the images. The tension that binds each of these figures is inside us, driving our own actions and choices. I feel we need to accept and acknowledge our inner demons, both at an individual and a societal level. My work accepts this internal conflict as a normal part of the human condition that we all feel when we struggle. By speaking honestly through the works, the viewer is challenged to redefine their relationship to the internal struggle invoking a raw response.
Open Access
Re(presenting) habit
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2010) Rossi, Stefani M., author; Yust, Dave, advisor; Sullivan, Patrice, advisor; Flippen, Paul, committee member; Lehene, Marius, committee member; Aoki, Eric, committee member; Dicesare, Catherine R., committee member
In my work, I cultivate intimate encounters that invite people to contemplate the larger narratives in which we participate. I (re)present objects in order to create microcosms of these narratives. Over the last three years, my interest in stories revealed by artifacts of daily living, particularly those used in significant routines, led to my investigation of the lingering evidence of habitual consumption: receipts, wrappers, and disposable containers. When recontextualized, these ephemera remain potently descriptive of the activities for which they were originally purposed. The things we live among, what we strive to possess, the detritus we try to eliminate—these all shape our notions regarding beauty, position, status, and belonging. Through staged scenarios that incorporate carefully rendered illusions of trash, sometimes incorporating the material presence of these leftovers themselves, In Memoriam construes habitual consumption to be an act of petition, a process of recollection, and an expression of devotion.
Open Access
Rock collection paintings
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2013) Cameron, Mikie, author; Sullivan, Patrice, advisor; Emami, Sanam, committee member; Flippen, Paul, committee member; McKee, Patrick, committee member; Moseman, Eleanor, committee member
Simply observing the world around me can be fascinating. Patterns and forms I find on stones and pebbles especially provoke my imagination. In my works, I observe and render natural forms onto surfaces; I interpret rocks from my collection into multi-colored, multi-layered, quiet paintings on carefully prepared panels. By translating my experience of these objects into art I am investigating my own perception of such an other, the alien rock - what it means to enter into a dialogue with it, subsequently constituting it and reconciling myself with it. Following this activity, a painting is created; an entirely new thing is made that the viewer can then contemplate. What follows is a description of how my work relates to contemporary theoretical considerations of perception, phenomenology, and epistemology. The rock collection paintings are a visual exploration of theoretical notions including phenomenology of perception, play transformed into structure, and experience of the other. As a result of the process of experiencing and translating a rock into a quiet oil painting I produce a visual playground. What exists is not two closed off subjects: the painting and the viewer, but a playful yet serious dialogue occurring between the two entities. What emerges from the discourse between viewer and painting is a form of self-knowledge. These works of art are forms of truth that, in part, shape the viewer.
Open Access
The lesbian artist as a child
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2018) Rudlaff, Barbara, author; Osborne, Erika, advisor; Flippen, Paul, committee member; Koskoska, Mary-Ann, committee member; DeMirjyn, Maricela, committee member
My thesis project is an artistic response to my experiences growing up as a feminist lesbian in the United States, England and Belgium in the 1970's and 80's. My monochromatic, childhood self-portraits reference some of the challenges I faced from western, hetero-centric patriarchy and my paper discusses how my identity as "Other" compelled me to discover, then determine, my place in society as well as in art history.