John Stipling

Born: Chester, UK, 1949

Education: Chester School of Art

After meeting a visiting Poet, whilst studying at Art School, I became deeply interested in poetry’s resourcefulness and unique structures. Discovering the work of the Czech Poet Miroslav Holub, his work ‘The Root of the Matter’ in particular ‘… like a set of illuminated initials after the letter Z’, resonated with me, leading onto the collections of Polish Poet, Zbigniew Herbert and many others. The book, ‘Voices in Stone: The decipherment of ancient scripts and writings’ by Ernst Doblhofer, opened the door for me to incorporate alphabets, symbols and scripts into my artwork.

The influence of the writers William Burroughs and Brion Gysin’s use of the ‘cut up method’ – a technique for rearranging text and therefore its meaning – combined with the visual languages of artists such as Paul Klee, Mark Tobey and Scottish painter Alan Davie, added a more fluid and spontaneous approach to my work. In 2020, during the COVID-19 lockdown, I became increasingly aware that the process itself had now become the most integral aspect of my work: A ritual of repetition… in fact, a meditation of sorts.

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I have exhibited widely throughout the UK, winning several prizes. Since February 2018, I have been a member of the group ‘Asemic Writing: The New Post-Literate’ and also the ‘Involuntary Painting Group’.