Response to Lisa Lapinsky (Sculpture)
Lisa Lapinski, a sculptor based in L.A., provided an interesting summary of her work and inspirations during her lecture last week. While difficult to understand Lapinsky’s lecture, it was interesting to view past projects and listen to Lapinsky’s explanations of her work.
The lecture as a whole seemed unprepared and scattered. Lapinsky did not give an introduction to herself or her work, but rather showed some examples of her sculptures in no particular order, interwoven between humorous but irrelevant reviews she wrote of other artists work and examples of other work she liked or was inspired by. When she did discuss her own work, she limited her comments to just saying the title of the work and showing a slide. While I don’t doubt that Lapinsky is a talented artist, I, along with many other students, walked out of the lecture with a very blurry recap of what it is Lapinsky actually produces.
Hearing about the variety of inspiration for Lapinsky was interesting. Lisa cited some of her inspirations for sculpture as being a Farmer’s Union shrine her friend’s mother made out of the friends’ artwork, paintings of women on screens in L.A., and Shaker furniture. One sculpture Lapinsky discussed in detail was titled “NightStand.� Lapinsky made the sculpture out of wood after taking a furniture making class, and she replaced Shaker motifs with the art deco symbols for each motif. This was interesting to me, and I would have liked to hear more about it.
Lapinsky also shared an idea she has for a future sculpture. She became inspired after learning more about Rambo, a symbolist poet who wanted to move to a new town, but first had to learn several trades. Lapinsky would like to make a sculpture that reflects all of these trades, such as a well-digger and a furniture maker.
Although Lapinsky’s lecture was very scattered, it is clear that she is intelligent. Lapinsky has a background in philosophy, and judging only from the elaborate titles of most of her pieces, the philosophy background often plays into her sculptures.