Donald Lipski

Donald Lipski (born May 21, 1947) is an American sculptor. He is best known for his provocative works with objects, his installation work and his large scale public works.

LIFE

Donald Lipski was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1947. He was raised in the northern suburb of Highland Park, the son and grandson of bicycle dealers. Although his first welded sculptures as a teen won him The Scholastic Art Award in high school, he was a history major and anti-war activist at The University of Wisconsin, Madison, earning a B.A. in American History in 1970. In Madison, Lipski discovered ceramics working with clay-world legend Don Reitz. This led him to an MFA in ceramics from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1973, where he studied with Richard DeVore and Michael Hall. Lipski taught at The University of Oklahoma, Norman from 1973–77, when he moved to New York.

Lipski enjoyed rapidly growing recognition with his early installation Gathering Dust, thousands of tiny sculptures pinned to the wall, first at Artists’ Space in 1978, and soon after in a Projects show at The Museum of Modern Art.^[1] In 1978 his enigmatic, poetic manipulation and transformation of found objects won him the first of three National Endowment For the Arts awards, followed by a Guggenheim Fellowship^{[citation needed]} in 1988, an award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1993, and the Rome Prize^{[citation needed]} of The American Academy in Rome in 2000. He is permanently conserved in the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art,^[2] the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., The Art Institute of Chicago, and dozens of other museums.

Lipski’s pioneering installation works continued in the 1990s with The Bells, at the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati,^{[citation needed]} The Starry Night, at Capp Street Project,^{[citation needed]} San Francisco, Pieces of String Too Short to Save,^[3] in the Grand Lobby of The Brooklyn Museum, NY), and The Cauldron^[4] at the Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, New York.

"Process is critical to Donald Lipski's sculpture," writes Stephen Fleischman, Director of the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, in his introduction to the exhibition catalogue A Brief History of Twine. "His work celebrates the object at the same time it reveals aspects of the human mind in operation... In Lipski's skilled hands, ordinary fly swatters and ballet shoes become poetic centerpieces of sculpture. Similarly, everyday thought processes — like editing, ordering and compulsivity — are elevated to a heroic level." ^[5]

“As an heir to the Surrealist tradition, the sculptor explores how context transforms the meaning of found objects, and he possesses the knack at composing fantastical stories from unexpected combinations of materials. What sets Mr. Lipski above most others who have pursued this well-trodden path is the quirky, inventive quality to the problems his work poses and the strange, graceful eloquence of his solutions.” -Michael Kimmelman^[6]

In recent years, Lipski has focused his efforts on creating large-scale works for public spaces and is today one of the most identifiable, prolific and original public artists in The United States. Among his most celebrated works are The Yearling, outside the Denver Public Library (originally exhibited by The Public Art Fund at Doris Freedman Plaza, Central Park, New York, 1997), Sirshasana, hanging in the Grand Central Market, Grand Central Terminal in New York City, and F.I.S.H. at The San Antonio River Walk, in Texas. There are twenty others across the United States.

Donald Lipski currently lives and works in Philadelphia, PA. He is represented by Galerie Lelong in New York.

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

• Asian American Art Center, New York
• Brooklyn Museum, New York, New York
• Chicago Art Institute
• Cincinnati Art Museum
• Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
• Dayton Art Institute, Dayton, Ohio
• Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado
• Detroit Institute of Art, Detroit, Michigan
• Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, Indiana
• Jewish Museum, New York, New York
• Laumeier Sculpture Park, St. Louis, Missouri
• Miami Art Museum
• Menil Collection, Houston, Texas
• Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York
• Minneapolis Museum of Fine Art, Minneapolis, Minnesota
• Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
• Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
• Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts
• Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas
• Museum of Modern Art, Miami
• New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, Louisiana
• North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh
• Raymond Nasher Sculpture Collection, Dallas, Texas
• Panza Collection, Italy
• Phoenix Museum of Art, Phoenix, Arizona
• Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, California
• Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota
• Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York
• Witherspoon Museum of Art, Greensboro, NC
• Yale University Art Gallery

BOOKS

• -Donald Lipski, retrospective catalogue, The Bawag Foundation, Vienna, 1999-2000 (text David Levy Strauss).
• -Arnason, H.H., History of Modern Art, 3rd Ed. New York: Harry N. Abrams Inc, 1986.
• -Bellamy, Peter, The Artist Project. New York: IN Publishing, 1991.
• -Heartney, Eleanor, et al., The Refco Collection. Chicago: Refco Group Ltd, 1990.
• -Pradel, Jean Louis, ed., World Art Trends 1983/84. New York: Harry N. Abrams Inc, 1984.
• -King, Elain, "Donald Lipski" in Artists Observed. Edited by Harvey Sten. New York: Harry N. Abrams Inc, 1986, pp. 38 39.
• -Sultan, Terrie, Donald Lipski: A Brief History of Twine, Madison Art Center, 2000
• -Richer, Francesca and Matthew Rosenzweig eds. No. 1: First Works by 362 Artists. New York: D.A.P., 2005.
• -Bloodworth, Sandra and William Ayres. Along the Way. New York: The Monacelli Press, 2006.

Further reading

• Fleischman, Stephen, and Terrie Sultan. Donald Lipski: A Brief History of Twine. Madison, WI: Madison Art Center, 2000.
• Freedman Gallery, Albright College. Donald Lipski: Poetic Sculpture. Reading, PA, 1990. Text by David S. Rubin.
• Hillwood Art Gallery, Long Island University. Broken Wings: Donald Lipski at Grumman. Brookville, NY, 1987. Text by Judy Collischan Van Wagner.
• Kaufman, Leslie. “Appreciating the Physical World: A Conversation with Donald Lipski.” Sculpture 26 (November 2007): 28–35.
• Kuspit, Donald. Donald Lipski: Building Steam (New York: Germans Van Eck Gallery, 1985).
• Princenthal, Nancy. “Reweaving Old Glory.” Art in America 79 (May 1991): 136–41, 182.
• Saunders, Wade. “Talking Objects: Interviews with Ten Younger Sculptors.” Art in America 73 (November 1985): 110–37.
• Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art. Donald Lipski: Oral History. Winston Salem, NC, 1994.
• Yau, John. Donald Lipski: Who’s Afraid of Red, White, and Blue? Philadelphia: Fabric Workshop, 1991.
• Riley, Jan. The Bells, Contemporary Art Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1991

AWARDS

• 2000 -The Rome Prize, American Academy in Rome
• 1993 -Academy Award, American Academy of Arts and Letters
• 1990 -National Endowment For the Arts (Sculpture)
• 1988 -Guggenheim Fellowship
• 1984 -National Endowment For the Arts (Sculpture)

• -New York Foundation on the Arts Fellowship
• -Awards in the Visual Arts

• 1978 -National Endowment For the Arts (Conceptual Art)
• 1965 -Scholastic Art Award

PUBLIC COMMISSIONS

• 2010 -Psyche, Auraria Campus, Denver, CO

• -Jackson, Reno, Nev, –Regional Bus Terminal

• 2009 -The Ziz, Goodyear Ball Park, Goodyear, AZ

• -F.I.S.H., The River Walk, San Antonio, TX

• 2008 -Cowcatcher, Sparks, Nev. –Regional Bus Terminal

• -The Tent, Indianapolis

• 2007 - The Doors, City of Scottsdale, AZ

• -Leaves of Grass, Levine Children's Hospital, Charlotte, NC

• 2006 -The Lorelei Club Minneapolis Central Library
• 2005 -Nails' Tales University of Wisconsin

• -Intimate Apparel & Pearl Earrings Fort Worth Convention Center
• -Sylvia, Arthur City of Chicago

• 2004 -Got Any Jacks? Miami International Airport
• 2003 -Five Easy Pieces, Washington DC Convention Center
• 2001 -Tools, Wellington Webb Municipal Building, Denver, Colorado
• 2000 - Rodin Rodannadanna, Avenue of the Arts, Kansas City

• -Sirshasana, Grand Central Market, Grand Central Terminal, New York City

• 1997 -The Yearling, Doris Friedman Plaza, Central Park, sponsored by The Public Art, Fund, New York (The Yearling now resides at the Denver Public Library)

• -The LaGuardia Suite, Concert Hall, La Guardia High School for Music

PUBLIC COMMISSIONS IN PROGRESS

• Community College of Philadelphia, –Completion date – 2012
• Houston, Water Works Museum, –Completion date – 2012
• Atlanta- Maynard Holbrook Jackson International Terminal-Completion date—2012
• Sacramento Airport – Completion date-2011
• San Diego Public Library -Completion date—2012
• San Antonio Airport – Completion date-2012
• El Monte, CA, Metro Bus Terminal –Completion date—2011

References

1. ^ http://www.moma.org/docs/press_archives/5705/releases/MOMA_1979_0005_5.pdf?2010
2. ^ http://landmarks.utexas.edu/artistdetail/Lipski_Donald
3. ^ http://collectingseminar.wordpress.com/2008/11/03/donald-lipski-%E2%80%93-pieces-of-string-too-small-to-save/
4. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/1996/06/09/nyregion/long-island-journal-004243.html?scp=14&sq=donald%20lipski&st=cse
5. ^ http://www.class.uh.edu/blaffer/exhibit_donald_lipski.html
6. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/1988/02/12/arts/art-jennifer-bartlett.html?scp=6&sq=donald%20lipski&st=cse

External links

• Donald Lipski website
• Review of Exquisite Copse at Galerie Lelong
• Review of The Starry Night
• http://art.uga.edu/index.php?pt=4&id=140]
• The Doors
• F.I.S.H.
• The Yearling
• Good As Gold
• The Starry Night at Capp Street Project
• Bawag Foundation, Vienna
• Water Lilies #52
• The West Collection
• Got Any Jacks?, Miami Airport
• The Tent, Indianapolis
• Ball? Ball! Wall? Wall!
• The Yearling
• Non-Fiction at Galerie Lelong
• Review of Exquisite Copse at Galerie Lelong
• Review of The Bells at PS1
• Croton-on-Hudson
• Building Steam at Germans Van Eck
• Candlabracadabra at Galerie Lelong
• Poetic Sculpture at The Hudson River Museum
• Piecemaker at The Clocktower

VIDEOS

• Psyche
• The Tent, Indianapolis
• Lipski on Jeopardy!