Statement about this series

by Jeff Whipple

My artwork has always been fused with my philosophy of living, which is to register, chronicle and respond to life. In recent years I’ve made art about the amazing miracle of the individual cognizant being and its random brief appearance in the infinity of time. To represent that brief appearance in various subjective contexts, I’ve used a symbol comprised of three irregular three lines.

The symbol represents an individual life. My artwork examines the way life is valued and the legacy we all have been given by the countless lives of our ancestors.

The symbol has been in my artwork for 28 years. The three lines depict the basic perception of pattern: one element alone has no meaning, two could be coincidence but three is a pattern. It became a life symbol because the pattern of the most basic spasm of movement is what distinguishes the animate from the inanimate, the living from the dead.

The figures with Spasms over their eyes may refer to how some people see the world through their life experiences or through the experiences of others. Or they are trying to see some meaning in life. In some of my images people are covered with Spasms. This could represent how our lives are affected by the people who lived before us. Or it could be about people who are burdened or blessed by other lives. Or the figures could represent whole societies or civilizations.

There are images of Spasms melting or burning like candles to represent how lives continually drip or melt away towards death. In some works hundreds of Spasms form a solid mass or fabric, which could represent groups of people, communities or human history.