SCOTT RISPIN

Click on images for full view

BIO

I began my 30+ years of artistic pursuits developing logos, carving and hand painting signs in my hometown of South Lake Tahoe, California. I settled in Erie Pennsylvania in 1990, and have been a working professional in nearly every aspect of the commercial arts; from ad agencies to silk screening, custom graphics/signage to muralist ever since. I received my BA in Art Education from Mercyhurst University in 2003, and earned my MFA in painting from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania in 2008. I have worked and exhibited artwork in a variety of media from Pennsylvania to Ohio, New York, Seattle, California, Nevada, Oregon and now here in Arizona, and have received awards in sculpture, painting, and public art projects. Since graduating with my MFA, I have been teaching a wide variety of art classes across 5 different Colleges/Universities, including two here in my new home of Arizona.

I spent almost 12 years at Penn State Erie, the Behrend College, teaching painting, drawing, visual studies, and art appreciation, and served as the Technical Director for the collage’s Studio Theatre – building sets and creating unique environments. I also had an enjoyable run of about 9 years teaching several different classes at the Erie Art Museum and in my studio.

I'm very excited to be back living and traveling around the West, and painting out in these incredible landscapes. My images have always wandered between very abstract to more representational. That situation has continued, although I have found it strangely difficult not to fall in love with the stunning western landscapes and simply paint them as they appear. You may notice some of those struggles as you look at these images – and I am perfectly fine with that. I hope there is something for everybody here.

ARTIST STATEMENT

My work has always been about attitudes, choices and “active seeing” versus merely “looking.” It’s about the nature of reality and what we claim to know about it. Our brain creates our own image of the world for us. So even the process of seeing is a creative process. As such, it stands to reason we have the ability to affect that process - If we want to.

 The nature of Reality has never been in greater question than it is today. Developments in Quantum Physics and its many theories propose many questions: How do you know what’s really there and what isn’t? How do you know what things really look like? You don’t really know – you just think you do. Parallel universes? Quite possibly. Orange water and purple grass? You bet.

 I make paintings for myself and people like me. I want each painting to be its own experience. I am not interested in making pictures of lovely things or places just as they appear to everyone else. I’m not interested in giving you what you want to see in the same old ways you’ve always seen them. I want to be challenged, I ask questions, I want to be interested – when I’m painting and when I’m looking at artwork.

 Most of my images celebrate the hidden, or less-obvious aspects of a landscape. My first consideration is always Composition – what could make a good painting. Weight and counter-weight. Movement and counter-movements. Visual Rhythm. Always the balance between unity/variety, organization and chaos. Often they come from little scenes people pass by every day, with neither the time or interest for inquiry. My paintings neither supply nor require answers. They demand nothing, except that you pay attention. To everything.

 We experience the world through our own well-constructed realities, through our natural - and self-imposed - limitations. They become quite comfortable. But this is where attitude and choice come in. We can choose to take things at face value, as we always have or prefer to. Too many value having the “right” answer rather than continuing to ask questions. I am always asked how I make my paintings, but never why. Is this the most rich, interesting and rewarding way to experience the world … and ART? Can we seek a more complete understanding, a deeper experience? It’s an attitude of potentials and possibilities. We can choose to adopt and nurture that type of attitude, and apply it across all areas of life – socially, politically, spiritually and personally.