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Joseph Lappie: Personal Mythologies
Joseph Lappie: Personal Mythologies encompasses more than a decade of the artist’s work. Myths, gods and people mingle in skillfully carved woodblocks, artist’s books and prints. The figures crouch and contort, transform into beasts and look out at the viewer with raw emotion.
Lappie’s expressive and haunting imagery reflects the human psyche as well as the cultural environment that shapes us. He references shared narratives passed down through centuries, including the Nuremberg Chronicle and stories of trickster gods Anansi and Loki. By engaging universal allegories and his own experiences, he provokes viewers to consider the relationship between our private realities and the outside world.
Lappie, an associate professor of art at St. Ambrose University, is a graduate of Columbia College in Chicago and Ball State University in Muncie, Ind. Throughout his career, he has worked with lithography, etching, letterpress, woodblock printing, painting and book arts.
Beginning about 10 years ago, Lappie began to shift traditional notions of printmaking, wherein the print is considered the artistic product, by creating installations of the carved wood blocks used to create prints. This exhibition includes three substantial bodies of work in this mode. By including a variety of Lappie’s work, the exhibition will highlight his range as a printmaker and as an artist.
Learn more at Joseph Lappie's website
This exhibition will be on view February 24-May 20, 2018
Joseph Lappie (American b. 1978), There is No Without, 2016, birch plywood, ink, gouache, Courtesy of the Artist.
Companion Event
Thursday, March 1
5:30 pm Exhibition Opening Reception
6:30 pm Artist Talk
Joseph Lappie, artist and associate professor of art at Saint Ambrose University, will share insights on his newly opened exhibition, as well as upcoming projects. Lappie has exhibited across the country, and his work is included in the collections of the Yale Art Library, Ringling College of Art & Design, University of Wisconsin, University of Dallas and Wesleyan University.
Sunday April 14th