Arnie Lipsey
Biography
Born in Montreal, Quebec, Arnie Lipsey is a graduate of The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts School of Art and Design. He relocated to Toronto, where he had a decades-long career in animation for film and television. Working in classical animation (as animator, director, designer and storyboard artist) using pencil and paper, he later successfully transitioned to digital technologies. He augmented his commercial output with independent filmmaking, creating award winning short animated films that have been internationally recognized. His paintings have been shown in group exhibitions in Toronto and the Tampa Bay area, including shows in The John B. Aird Gallery, Gallery 1313, The Art Gallery of Mississauga, Morean Arts Center (St. Petersburg Fla.), and Impact 2021, where his work garnered first prize.
Artist’s Statement
After a lengthy career in animation, I’ve returned to my original artistic passion: painting. My work is personal and focuses on the psychological legacies that link generations. I use elements of narrative and portraiture to explore questions of identity and the hidden psychological motivations and patterns that undergird family mythologies. My paintings often use archival family photographs as a point of departure for this inquiry of underlying intergenerational dynamics. These interpretive portraits can incorporate additional elements, objects and settings that speak to the nature of the myth surrounding the subject. The free interjection of colour elements, enhancing and transforming the original black and white source material, is used to intensify visual impact, and propel these historical artifacts into the present, rendering them timeless. The images mine elements of symbolism and nostalgia, without being overtly symbolic nor primarily nostalgic. The viewer is invited to witness the emotional specificity of someone else’s family and relate it to the mythologies of their own.
Banner Image: Arnie Lipsey, Beau-Geste