Santa Fe, NM ALETA PIPPIN Landscapes of the Mind
For Aleta Pippin, art is as much about what is reflected outward as it is about what is felt inward. Her upcoming show, Landscapes of the Mind, explores this outlook with works that Pippin says are “a blend of my inner emotions and outward environments.” On view at Pippin Contemporary, which the artist owns, the series is a colorful collection of large, abstract paintings. “As an abstract painter, large formats are so inviting,” she says. “When you do something very large, it draws you in. It feels like you could walk into it, which speaks to me.”
Included in the series is an oil abuzz with energy. “I called it Movement in Color because that’s what it feels like,” she says. “Growing up, I would look out across my house at all these different levels formed from the mountains. You can see this form toward the center of the painting. The marks also create another form—kind of like tall grass or flowers blossoming
up. There’s just so much energy in it.” Taking inspiration from her childhood in the desert in Southern California, Pippin uses rich, vibrant and effervescent color combinations that embody what home represents to her—rugged desert beauty, clear blue skies, sunsets and vast landscapes that once seemed to be never-ending.
Of the works in Landscapes of the Mind, she says only one, titled Winter’s Blessing, isn’t desert related. “That’s just pure color,” she adds. “It has so many forms—it feels like you’re looking across someone’s garden.”
Color, Pippin points out, can be the ultimate spiritual experience. “Do you ever hear music so beautiful that it makes you tear up?” she asks. “Color is the same way. It has the ability to heal in that way—it can uplift us. But, if it’s used in a way that is jarring to us, it can have that effect too.”
Her hope for this series is the former—to uplift, create a spiritual connection with the viewer and to invite them to look inward, just as she did to create the works. “I like people to feel the connection to nature, their inner spirit or whatever they find spiritual,” she says. “It’s kind of a ministry, but through art.”