Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 5

Curtis Ripley
Sonata #11

2016

$4,500
£3,400.75
€3,906.38
CA$6,329.58
A$6,701.38
CHF 3,626.60
MX$80,093.78
NOK 45,205.04
SEK 41,338.41
DKK 29,175.67

About the Item

Curtis Ripley’s newest abstractions are sublime musings on expression itself. Concerned with capturing those phenomena which are most difficult to describe with words, Ripley’s paintings are gestural and impromptu meditations on mood, emotion and experience. In this new series, Ripley titles his paintings as “Sonnets” and “Sonatas”, directly referencing the structures of music and poetry. Treating each painting as a spontaneous composition, Ripley’s brushstrokes flick across the subtle atmospheric grounds like colorful syllables in a poem or notes in a song. These lyrical marks seem to float on top of the surface, glowing with energy. This interplay between surface imagery and atmospheric background is reminiscent of the works of Surrealist painter, Joan Miro, who, like Ripley, was interested in the parallels between poetry, music and painting, remarking that “I try to apply colors like words that shape poems, like notes that shape music.” The avant-garde American composer (and contemporary of Miro) John Cage, also comes to mind when viewing Ripley’s rhapsodic paintings. Cage pioneered indeterminacy - a movement in music in which aspects of a musical work are left open to chance. To Cage, “a 'mistake' is beside the point, for once anything happens it authentically is,” and this same philosophy could be argued for Ripley’s work. Ripley relinquishes the need for absolute control, embracing the unforeseen and unexpected. He is not afraid to wipe out and begin again, his paintings show the marks of their creation - splatters, smudges and drips are allowed to live on the surface, serving as markers of the artist’s path. Ripley’s artistic pursuit is to visually chronicle those fleeting moments that add up to a lifetime, inviting the viewer to join in on the journey.
  • Creator:
    Curtis Ripley (1949, American)
  • Creation Year:
    2016
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 30 in (76.2 cm)Width: 24 in (60.96 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    Santa Monica, CA
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU4782884511

More From This Seller

View All
Sonata #13
By Curtis Ripley
Located in Santa Monica, CA
Curtis Ripley’s newest abstractions are sublime musings on expression itself. Concerned with capturing those phenomena which are most difficult to describe with words, Ripley’s paint...
Category

2010s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Sonata #6
By Curtis Ripley
Located in Santa Monica, CA
Curtis Ripley’s newest abstractions are sublime musings on expression itself. Concerned with capturing those phenomena which are most difficult to describe with words, Ripley’s paint...
Category

2010s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Sonata #16
By Curtis Ripley
Located in Santa Monica, CA
Curtis Ripley’s newest abstractions are sublime musings on expression itself. Concerned with capturing those phenomena which are most difficult to describe with words, Ripley’s paint...
Category

2010s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Sonata #14
By Curtis Ripley
Located in Santa Monica, CA
Curtis Ripley’s newest abstractions are sublime musings on expression itself. Concerned with capturing those phenomena which are most difficult to describe with words, Ripley’s paint...
Category

2010s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Sonata #30
By Curtis Ripley
Located in Santa Monica, CA
Taking cues from the anti-figurative aesthetic of American Abstract Expressionists, Ripley’s process is one of spontaneity and gesture. Color is applied in broad strokes atop a black...
Category

2010s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Minuet
By Curtis Ripley
Located in Santa Monica, CA
Curtis Ripley’s newest abstractions are sublime musings on expression itself. Concerned with capturing those phenomena which are most difficult to describe with words, Ripley’s paint...
Category

2010s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

You May Also Like

Z58
By Frank Arnold
Located in Fresno, CA
"Z58" Oil on Canvas with heavy impasto range of Blue pigments. Frank Arnold is thought by many to be one of the foremost abstract figurative painters and sculptors of our time. He is...
Category

2010s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Untitled
By Geoff Rees
Located in Vancouver, CA
Geoff Rees (1930–2018) A Modernist Voice of the West Coast Geoff Rees was a defining figure in Western Canadian abstraction, known for paintings that balance radiant colour, medita...
Category

1990s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

Echo
By Dorothy Krakovsky
Located in Irvine, CA
Dorothy Krakovsky’s paintings have been characterized by reviewers as reminiscent of Joan Mitchell, among other artists. The wild variation in her paintings defies labels- or a singl...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

Robert Mus Untitled 2
Located in Saint Ouen, FR
Robert Mus Untitled 2 Mixed media on Isorel 1965/1966 119 x 90 cms Certificate from the artist's daughter 2300 euros
Category

1960s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Paper

untitled 607
By Ky Anderson
Located in Dallas, TX
Acrylic & oil on paper
Category

2010s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Paper, Acrylic, Oil

"New Synthesis 87"
By Jack Roth
Located in Astoria, NY
Jack Roth (American, 1927-2004), "New Synthesis 87", Acrylic on Canvas, 1981, titled, signed and dated "Roth 81" verso with "Jack Roth Estate" stamps, unframed. 62" H x 66" W x 1.5"...
Category

1980s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic