Mevlana Lipp

Lives and works in Cologne, Germany

Artist statement

My work explores the natural world as a space in which forms of life, emotion and experience can exist beyond the structures of human thought and language. Plants have long been central to my practice as fictional organisms that act as stand-ins for human beings and their most elemental impulses: desire, vulnerability, connection, fear and intimacy. In my current body of work, I have turned increasingly towards painting on canvas and the depiction of primordial landscapes. These barren, almost pre-human worlds appear to exist at the threshold of life itself. Within them, plants emerge as some of the first forms of life to take root, adapting to environments that seem harsh, empty and inhospitable. The sharp, needle-like formations that dominate these landscapes are both threatening and strangely beautiful. Plants grow around them, become pierced by them, or seem to emerge from them. This tension reflects my interest in the coexistence of beauty and violence, vulnerability and resilience. Rather than imagining life as something that exists in opposition to adversity, I see resistance, pain and vulnerability as intrinsic to it. The works therefore explore a form of persistence that is not heroic, but instinctive. Even within seemingly empty worlds, life finds ways to emerge, adapt and connect. In this sense, the landscapes become spaces for considering how we might accept the more difficult aspects of existence without separating them from its beauty.

Artwork