Mevlana Lipp DE, b. 1989

Mevlana Lipp's artworks glow in the dark. The security of a nightlight, the neon dream of a rave party, the bioluminescent power of nature, the dawn of spiritual awakening, the phosphorescent rapture of a galaxy-far-far-away, afterimages stinging on the retina, the glow of comfort in dark times, the blast of overwhelming flashbulb memories, the blacklight of microscopic images, the smouldering magic lamp of One Thousand and One Nights and the burning blaze of a sun-drenched exotic island: all these glimpses of light are interwoven in the shimmering gardens of the artist. With the title Soleil, Lipp honours the sun as the only object in our solar system that produces its own light.

Lipp's artwork is unapologetically beautiful. The aesthetic is deep, not superficial. Through a perfect balance of feeling and reason, and intuition and technicality, he achieves a transformative power in his work. With the democracy of beauty Lipp honours the primary part in each of us. The part that can connect without words and thoughts. They are often the root of much suffering. These artworks threaten and admire, celebrate, and warn, provoke existential fear and vitality, are carrot-and-stick. The confrontation seems light as a feather but leaves bruises in the end.

Femke Vandenbosch