Gipe Lawrence

Lawrence Gipe, born in 1962 in Baltimore, Maryland, is a distinguished American painter, independent curator, and Associate Professor of 2D studies at The University of Arizona in Tucson. With a BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University (1984) and an MFA from the Otis/Parsons Institute of Art and Design in Los Angeles (1986), Gipe has cultivated a career that intertwines artistic practice with academic mentorship. He maintains a studio in Los Angeles, sharing his time between California and Arizona.

Gipe’s oeuvre is marked by his innovative use of “irredeemable” imagery sourced from archives such as business magazines, propaganda materials, and sanctioned artworks from politically charged regions like the former Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc countries. His renowned series, The Century of Progress Museum, transforms these black and white images into large, vibrant paintings, inviting viewers to reconstruct the ideological narratives embedded within.

Art critic David Humphrey notes Gipe’s astute ability to recontextualize historical photographs into paintings that balance connoisseurship with critique, while critic Donald Kuspit has highlighted Gipe’s ability to reveal the rhetorical nature of art. Gipe’s engagement with art as a political dialogue was further exemplified by his participation in the group exhibition One Year: The Art of Politics in Los Angeles (2018).

Gipe’s career is punctuated by significant accolades, including two NEA Individual Fellowship Grants (1989, 1996) and a mid-career survey, 3 Five-Year Plans, at ASU Art Museum in 2006. Notably, he was commissioned to create a mural for the Federal Reserve Bank in Atlanta in 2001. His commitment to social issues led to the project Documenting Operation Streamline, supported by a University of Arizona grant, which combined courtroom sketches with journalism to highlight immigration policies.

In 2019, Gipe expanded his international footprint with a residency at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China, where he taught, exhibited, and lectured. His latest series, Russian Drone Paintings, evokes the 19th-century Manifest Destiny aesthetic as a critique of contemporary ecological and surveillance issues. These works were featured in his 2022 solo exhibition, Recent Pictures, at William Turner Gallery, Los Angeles, continuing his exploration of humanity’s impact on nature through a politically charged lens.