Jeff Whipple
alt_space exhibition
November 7 – December 12, 2015
Curriculum Vitae
Artist Statement
My artwork has always been fused with my philosophy of living, which is to register, chronicle and respond to life. I use images and words to engage viewers in imaginative contemplation about the weirdness and beauty of our brief appearance in the infinity of time. The media includes drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, video, performance, installation and playwriting.
All of my visual art has a three-line motif that I initially created in the early 1980s to make my compositions appear planned and organized. I use three lines because three repetitions of an element is a recognizable pattern and that implies a definite design. I also use it as a life symbol because the basic perception of something living is a pattern of movement.
If viewers understand that the symbol represents something about life they will create their own ideas about what it means. I guide viewers toward a theme but leave it open-ended so they can creatively apply their own ideas to it.I also use the three-line motif as a logo for my art. It’s an ironic commentary on corporate branding and product marketing. I like exploring where the logo concept can go and it’s even become a cartoon character.
My newest series is called “Marching Orders”. It’s a metaphor for our journey, or march through life and the innate desire to find meaning and purpose. I use the three-lines as an insignia in uniforms inspired by marching bands.
Artist Biography
Jeff Whipple creates art that engages viewers in imaginative contemplations about the weirdness and beauty of our brief appearance in the infinity of time. He has won awards in professional competitions for drawing, painting, printmaking, sculpture, video, photography and playwriting.He has had 82 solo exhibitions in galleries, colleges and museums including the Tampa Museum of Art, the Gulf Coast Museum of Art, the Museum of Florida Art, and the Boca Raton Museum of Art. His art has been in dozens of group exhibitions across the USA and has received 48 top awards in competitions.Whipple’s play “Spokesperson” was produced in Chicago in 2008 and his comedy, “Couch Potatoes of the 22nd Century” was produced in 2009 in Orlando. He’s had 17 other play productions since the mid-1980s. He’s won several playwriting awards including five Florida statewide playwriting competitions.Whipple has won six state arts council individual artist fellowships: Two from Illinois: 1985 and 1990 and four from Florida: 1982, 1996, 2006, and 2014. The 1996 Florida fellowship was for Playwriting and Whipple is the only Florida artist awarded fellowships in two different disciplines. In 2001, he won the $10,000 Fulton Ross Grant based on career achievements. Whipple’s paintings for a New Orleans library were selected as one of the 50 best public art projects in 2012 by the Public Art Network. His other public art commissions include an 80-foot long video on the exterior of the Tampa Museum of Art, a 300-foot long mural for the City of Tampa and a 150-foot long mural for a library in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Tampa Museum of Art commissioned Whipple to create a large-scale outdoor video and art installation in Miami Beach that was seen by hundreds of thousands during the week of Art Basel Miami in 2006.Whipple’s artwork is in dozens of corporate, municipal, college and museum collections.He has taught at several colleges including Arizona State University, Florida State University, and Northern Illinois University. He currently teaches at the University of North Florida.
jeffwhipple.com