Weinstein Gallery began its exclusivity in San Francisco with Robert Kipniss in late 1999, continuing a tradition of strong gallery support for the artist begun in New York in 1951.

The interest in the art of Robert Kipniss has never faltered because Kipniss has remained pure in his intent and masterful in the execution of his imagery. Like his contemporaries in music, Miles Davis and Bob Dylan, his brush and printmaking tools speak as their horn and voice with confidence, assuredness and remarkable clarity of vision. This purposefulness from the artist's earliest works to the present has never been so obvious than in Weinstein Gallery's last three exhibitions of the artist: new works in oil and mezzotints, paintings from the vault going back to 1950, and one impression of each of Kipniss' 400 lithographs.

In each medium, Robert Kipniss creates a world that is aesthetically pleasing to the eye and thought provoking for the psyche. His work is ever evolving, yet his central themes of contemplation, longing, journeys and discoveries have remained true. When first encountering Kipniss, the viewer is often simultaneously enchanted and perplexed. The enchantment arises from the strength of composition and the range of emotions evoked, from tranquility to a disquieting anticipation. Viewers have expressed sensations from nostalgia to dread when gazing upon the same meandering pathway through trees to apparently unoccupied houses. This leads to the perplexity of the experience; how can trees, houses, roads, windows and vases cause such a commotion? How can work so seemingly redundant be so fresh and inspiring?

Kipniss has found something renewing in the familiarity with his symbols. And his symbols, being common place things, are familiar to the viewer. If not an outright taunt, Kipniss teases and chances dismissal by the casual observer because, after all, its just another tree, another clear vase, another house. Kipniss' symbolic imagery acts as most of us use language. Our vocabulary of words form new sentences, new thoughts. The same words, different meanings.

Much has been already written regarding the cool intensity and the isolation found in Kipniss. It has been observed that Kipniss has done for the countryside what Hopper did for the city. That is, of course, a great compliment, but at the same time, it is faint praise as it implies that Kipniss has a mood of which he is the master at expressing. Again true, but the veteran Kipniss enthusiast knows that Kipniss' trees can be alone or neighbors, dancers on the wind or sentinels standing guard, foreboding and inviting, unreachable in the distance or seemingly coming off the canvas before the foreground. They have stood barren as if occupying a ceaseless winter and have spewed forth impossible foliage. Characteristically solitary, we have seen them intertwine in lovers embracing.

In part, this diversity of image comes from Kipniss' facility in many media. Kipniss is a true painter/printmaker moving from oil to lithography and drypoint to his most recent works in mezzotint with what, for the viewer, appears seamless ease. We have a difficult time discussing Kipniss in this way as he has no peer among his contemporaries. We must look to the artists of past centuries to find Kipniss' equal as painter/printmaker. Rembrandt, Whistler, Lautrec and Picasso immediately spring to mind as artists, like Kipniss, who are as innovative and complete on canvas as they are on paper.

Robert Kipniss' first success was as a painter. In the late 60's to 1990, his work in lithography became legendary. In drypoint, Springfield, O is as fine a print pulled by an American hand in this century and was the piece that began The British Museum's Kipniss collection. Kipniss' recent work in mezzotint is astounding. The rich black and stark white of the medium with its lush visual effect may prove to be the artist's greatest tool for achieving the mood he wishes to capture.

As Kipniss has evolved the media of his works on paper, his oil paintings have followed and often lead this expressive journey. Without the understanding of mezzotints, paintings such as Window at Dusk and Moonlight would not be possible. Without the delicate palette and spatial arrangement of his early paintings, the quintessential lithographs, Secrets and Interior with Suspended Plant could not have come to fruition.

In recent years, Kipniss' paintings and graphic works have fused and endowed the artist with inspiration born of the material itself. Classically trained, he has the foundation to be an innovator, becoming his own instructor.

Whatever medium he is working in, once you know Kipniss you will never mistake him with any other artist. And in knowing the work, be warned, Kipniss can stir the soul, conjure forgotten memories, change our perceptions of ourselves and the world around us. These changes within ourselves, before a Kipniss, are not always comfortable as he has never created a path that has had an easy way out. but it is always worth the journey.

The complexity of Kipniss can not be observed rapidly or in viewing only a few images. This is why, since 1999, one of Weinstein's missions has been to curate the most comprehensive ongoing Kipniss exhibition. With Robert Kipniss' assistance and the continuing enchantment of the artist's work by the collectors, we believe the exhibition will continue for many, many years.

Philip Allen
San Francisco, 2002

[  Top of Page ]