Mevlana Lipp

May 13

‘Soleil’

13.05.2023 — 18.06.2023

Mevlana Lipp's artworks glow in the dark. The security of a nightlight, the neon dream of a rave party, the bioluminescent power of nature, the dawn of spiritual awakening, the phosphorescent rapture of a galaxy-far-far-away, afterimages stinging on the retina, the glow of comfort in dark times, the blast of overwhelming flashbulb memories, the blacklight of microscopic images, the smouldering magic lamp of One Thousand and One Nights and the burning blaze of a sun-drenched exotic island: all these glimpses of light are interwoven in the shimmering gardens of the artist. With the title Soleil, Lipp honours the sun as the only object in our solar system that produces its own light.

Though his gardens are bathing in glowing moonlight, the artist knows the wondrous illusion of reflection and the sobering disenchantment of biting the reflective dust. Lipp has overcome artistic challenges along the way. Finishing his studies at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, he entered the art world as a mixed media artist. Part of a duo, he created a world where sculptural installations fused with performance art and video. The artists often worked more than a year on the performances, sets and costumes of one science fiction like film. As a solo artist Lipp was left to search his authentic language. He intertwined his upbringing in the countryside, his fascination with biology, and his background as a sculptor. As a filmmaker storytelling was important for Lipp. In painting he finds exciting new opportunities to play with narrative and illusion. The fear and overwhelming anxiety he experienced during his artistic quest became part of the story. In his art kindness and panic engage in dialogue with each other. By adding painting, the monumental sculptures evolve from wall-objects to their current form as relief-like images. This self-developed technique keeps the artworks close to the material and three-dimensional and creates space for dramaturgy and sensitive motifs.

Excerpt of the exhibition text written by Femke Vandenbosch, 2023

Mevlana Lipp (°1989) lives and works in Horhausen, Germany.
Mevlana Lipp is German artist with a fascination for the natural world, exploring the symbiosis between art and nature. His sculptural pieces are a mix of different materials, blending the haptic qualities of sculpture, with his interest in the narrative and atmospheric qualities of videos.
His aesthetic is deep and unapologetically beautiful. Through a perfect balance of feeling and reason, and intuition and technicality, he achieves a transformative power in his work. With the democracy of beauty Lipp honors the primary part in each of us. The part that can connect without words and thoughts. They are often the root of much suffering. These artworks threaten and admire, celebrate, and warn, provoke existential fear and vitality.
The artworks glow in the dark, echoing the bioluminescent power of nature. The close-ups of these highly stylized, dream-like, exotic flowers, as if from another planet, evoke feelings of paradise, bringing about a sense of calm, as the viewer is totally immersed in the details and absolute beauty of the elements. It talks about the greatness of nature, an idyllic paradise that both entraps and awes, a metaphor for the sublime.
Mevlana Lipp studied at the Art Academy Düsseldorf and was granted the title Meisterschüler by Thomas Grünfeld. He has exhibited throughout Germany, Belgium, UK and Denmark among others.