Lawrence Gipe (born 1962 in Baltimore, Maryland), is an American painter, independent curator, and Associate Professor of 2D studies at The University of Arizona, Tucson.
[1] Gipe's work utilizes “irredeemable” imagery sourced from an archive of business magazines (specifically, Fortune), propaganda tracts, social realism photography and other officially "sanctioned" artworks approved by politically-orientated bodies (such as the former Soviet Union, countries in the former Eastern Bloc, and China).
His paintings translate small black and white images into large-scale works, saturated with color, in an ongoing series called The Century of Progress Museum.
A mid-career survey, 3 Five-Year Plans: Lawrence Gipe, 1990-2005, was organized in 2006 by Marilyn Zeitlin at the ASU Art Museum, Tempe at Arizona State University.
Seen through the lens of our global “adversary”, images of cities abandoned due to radioactivity, bombardment, and other traumatic events become representative of humanity’s relentless intrusion into nature.