Dark Arts: Laurie Lipton

Last Night I Dreamt I Murdered Mommy

~by Marie Robinson

 I’ve been a fan of Laurie Lipton’s artwork for a while now. It all started with her piece entitled, “Last Night I Dreamt I Murdered Mommy”, which instantly struck me (I think you can see why) and stuck with me ever since. In times when I have forgotten her name but sought out her art, I would search for the title of this work.

Stranger in the Woods

However, up until now, I really didn’t know much about her, beyond her drawings which are often very dark and, to some, disturbing. I was revisiting her artwork the other day and I found that a short documentary had been done about her by a filmmaker named James Scott. The film is called Love Bite (which is also the name of one of Lipton’s drawings), and it’s about thirty minutes long and available for free on Vimeo. Watching it, I fell even deeper in love with not only Laurie Lipton’s artwork, but also her, as an artist.

Lipton works in one medium, and one medium only: black and white pencil drawings. She says that black and white, “is the color of ghosts [...], old television shows, memories, old family photographs, past, [...] longing, [and] thought.”

Haunting

There are many statements in her art about family, technology, and industrial society. Death is widely featured, often as a physical presence.

 You may find many of her portrayals of children and their parents to be frightening, or maybe even upsetting; but these are not cheap visuals intended only to shock. These images are a reflection of very real trauma personally suffered by the artist. “There’s a very hurt child in all my work,” Lipton says in the documentary.

Seamstress

However, she goes on that although she is sorry that her younger self and her mother had to suffer as a result of a traumatic experience, she is now grateful for it, because it has defined her as an artist. “You never know what kind of gift comes out of suffering.”

I’ve included below the link to watch the film Love Bite, and to Laurie Lipton’s website.

Watch Love Bite: https://vimeo.com/356729842

Laurie Lipton’s website:  https://www.laurielipton.com/