Configuration: Nicholas Kripal catalogue

Configuration: Nicholas Kripal

September 2017 – April 2018

Park Towne Place Museum District Residences 2200 Benjamin Franklin Parkway Philadelphia, PA 19130 267-773-6373 parktowneapthomes.com

Rotational Exhibits Park Towne Place is pleased to partner with InLiquid to present a series of rotational exhibits. Our galleries showcase both established and up-and-coming artists. We sponsor several public art openings each year. Each exhibit includes companion educational and social opportunities to visit with artists who will host talks and provide insights on their original works.

InLiquid is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization committed to creating opportunities and exposure for visual artists and works with more than 280 artists and designers. It serves as a free, online public hub for arts information in the Philadelphia area. Find out more at www.inliquid.org.

All rotational artworks are available for purchase. Inquiries for purchases can be directed to Catherine Sirizzotti at catherine@inliquid.org.

Configuration: Nicholas Kripal @ The North Tower Gallery Park Towne Place Museum District Residences

On view: September 2017 – April 2018 Opening Reception: October 14, 5:30–8pm Gallery Talk by Jeffrey Mongrain Curated by: InLiquid Art+Design, InLiquid.org

“Art is the concrete representation of our most subtle feelings.“ — Agnes Martin

“While I make forms in response to experiencing other forms — often archetypal, figurated, or possessing an unknown function — it is necessary to pare down, reduce, limit the representational quality of forms I create in order to insure that while they may trigger a memory or an association in the mind of the viewer, what they ultimately evoke can only be explained as what they are as objects themselves. Simply put, despite their associative resonance, they are what they are.”

— Nicholas Kripal

Above: Contrivance Series I, II, III, 2012

InLiquid and Park Towne Place present Configuration, an exhibition

of ceramic sculptures by Nicholas Kripal. Kripal’s tightly conceptual sculptures contain layers of meaning expressed elegantly in

seemingly simple and minimalist form. Throughout his career, Kripal was inspired by tools and objects from everyday life,

such as hand tools and baking molds. His sculptures combined these forms into symmetrical clusters and stacks, altering color, and shifting scale. The objects are rich in association, and are

transformed by the change. In creating artwork from common forms, Kripal celebrated humble handiwork, elevating the

ordinary into something to be revered. Configuration will display

a collection of these artworks, which together tell a story of a time and place through objects.

Kripal, who passed away in September 2016, was a central figure in the creative community in Philadelphia. He was a respected

educator, influencing countless students as a ceramics professor at Tyler School of Art. As an artist, Kripal was known for his

deeply researched, site-specific art installations and elaborately constructed ceramic sculptures.

Nicholas Kripal was the chair of the Crafts Department Tyler School of Art, Temple University, area head of the department’s Ceramics

Program, and Vice President of Crane Arts LLC, Philadelphia. Kripal received an M.F.A from Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, and a M.S. Ed. and a B.F.A. from the University of Nebraska,

Kearney. He is a recipient of three Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Fellowships, and a 1999 Pew Fellowship in the Arts, and a

Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, and was Artist-in-Residence, La Napoule Art Foundation, La Napoule, France, sponsored by the

Pew Foundation for the Arts. His artwork has been widely exhibited nationally and internationally.

4

Configuration is a part of the Parkway 100’s Connections and Collections Centennial Celebration Exhibition Series, which

features artwork that relates collections of common objects to the history of the people who have lived in and around the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.

Configuration: Appearing like armor, clothing, or even an internal organ, these sculptures seem both guarded and vulnerable at the same time. The forms are based on cases for tools and accessories, however, they stray from their original intention and leave the viewer with an awareness of absence in the convex shape.

On Display:

Configuration, 1996, Terra cotta and pigments, Dimensions variable $13,000 Halving, 1998, Terra cotta and pigments, 30” x 12” $8,000

Above: Configuration, 1996

5

Cathedral Labyrinths: Much of Kripal’s work is informed by spiritual spaces and their particular iconography, location, and history.

His work process depends on research and reflection as much as on building and casting. Originally created as site-specific installations, the Cathedral Labyrinths reference the shapes and symbols of Gothic and Romanesque architecture, rearranging the forms into complex labyrinths. Historically, labyrinths were placed within the floors of cathedrals and were seen as a symbol of the passage through life, from birth to death to rebirth.

His site-related work has been installed in the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, New York City, NY; Kristus Kirche, Cologne, Germany; Glasgow Cathedral, Scotland; Sala Santa, Rome, Italy; St. Patrick’s Church, Indianapolis, IN; and Corpus Christi Church, Baltimore, MD. Pool Labyrinth: In addition to referencing Gothic architecture, Pool Labyrinth utilizes the diagram of a water molecule for its composition. Within many of the world’s religions, water is a powerful symbol of life and transformation. Many of the early Christian churches were built atop springs or near pools of water that also were important sites of Pagan worship. This sculpture neatly ties the religious concepts and associations together with their source.

On Display:

Cathedral Labyrinth I, 2001, Terra cotta, 56” x 56” x 6” $15,000 Cathedral Labyrinth II, 2001, Terra cotta, 57” x 57” x 6” $15,000 Pool Labyrinth, 2005, Terra cotta, Terra cotta $9,000 Left Top: Cathedral Labyrinth I, 2001 Left Bottom: Pool Labyrinth, 2005

7

Double Helix and W.S. Variation #2: Composed of six-sided, tripart Gothic modules aligned to reference the structure of DNA and the arrangement of compound molecules, these sculptures combine the sacred architecture of the body and the mind.

Flower Tiles: The Flower Tiles represent a simple reflection upon the elegance of natural form. An avid gardener, Kripal had a deep interest in the underpinnings of biological life. Much of his work celebrates the connection between the physical and the spiritual worlds, and the art-historical modes that articulate that connection. The tile imagery is derived by a photo transfer process from living flowers, and the series is made to be installed in exterior garden spaces.

On Display:

Cathedral Pattern, 2010, Print, 33.5” x 33.5” $2,000 Flower Tile #2, 2015 , Phototransfer, glaze, ceramic tile, 35” x 36” $1,500 Flower Tile #7, 2015, Phototransfer, glaze, ceramic tile, 16” x 20” $500 Reliquary: Double Helix (selection), 2008, Mixed media, 38” x 18” x 2” $2,500 W.S. Variation #2, 2006, Earthenware, 75” x 75” x 3.5” $1,400

Left Top: W.S. Variation #2, 2006 Left Bottom: Flower Tile #7, 2015

9

Contrivance/Confection Series: Made from baking pans and food containers typical to the mid-century kitchen, the Contrivance and Confection series embody an everyday experience and elevate the humble tools of the home into art objects. The stacked shapes reference function, but also take on a figurative quality, enhancing this sense of life.

On Display:

Confection Series, 2010, Terra cotta, kiln shelf, 52” x 19” x 49” $8,000 Contrivance Series I (Green and Grey), 2016, Glazed terra cotta, Dimensions variable $975 Contrivance Series I, II, III, 2012, Glazed terra cotta, Dimensions variable $600 Contrivance Series II (Green and Grey), 2016, Glazed terra cotta, Dimensions variable $750 Contrivance Series IV, 2012, Glazed terra cotta, 12” x 12” x 24” $800 Left: Contrivance Series IV, 2012 Above: Confection Series, 2010

11

Left: Cathedral Labyrinth II, 2001 Cover: W.S. Variation #2, 2006

ParkTowneAptHomes.com