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Craig Rippon
Rippon
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I am an American-based artist who works in oil paints. I create large-scale figurative paintings of African-American women incorporating historical/social elements that have and do currently impact people of color in the United States. Playing off the parody of the word “pin-up,” I am creating American Woman, a Pin-up/Lynching Series meant to explore the Black woman, her specific history, and the expanded story of people of color. Appropriating pin-up as a genre allows me to challenge conventional ideas of beauty; the Black female form and complexion are a canvas on which to paint uncomfortable truths. I have been greatly influenced by past artists such as Alberto Vargas, Gil Elvgren, and George Petty, as well as the contemporary erotic leanings of Hajime Sorayama, however, within the genre, the woman of color has been largely ignored, I intend to correct that. Finnish artist Touko Laaksonen, better known as Tom of Finland, is largely responsible for militaristic erotica that is a part of the gay community it was Tom’s erotic drawings that gay men sought to emulate that created that style of costuming. I would like to have such an impact on African-American women, artistically leading them away from cartoonish imitations of European standards of beauty. Artist, Craig Rippon
I am an American-based artist who works in oil paints. I create large-scale figurative paintings of African-American women incorporating historical/social elements that have and do currently impact people of color in the United States. Playing off the parody of the word “pin-up,” I am creating American Woman, a Pin-up/Lynching Series meant to explore the Black woman, her specific history, and the expanded story of people of color.
Appropriating pin-up as a genre allows me to challenge conventional ideas of beauty; the Black female form and complexion are a canvas on which to paint uncomfortable truths. I have been greatly influenced by past artists such as Alberto Vargas, Gil Elvgren, and George Petty, as well as the contemporary erotic leanings of Hajime Sorayama, however, within the genre, the woman of color has been largely ignored, I intend to correct that.
Finnish artist Touko Laaksonen, better known as Tom of Finland, is largely responsible for militaristic erotica that is a part of the gay community it was Tom’s erotic drawings that gay men sought to emulate that created that style of costuming.
I would like to have such an impact on African-American women, artistically leading them away from cartoonish imitations of European standards of beauty.
Artist, Craig Rippon