Graphic Studio Gallery is pleased to showcase Daniel Lipstein’s solo exhibition featuring an array of etchings and aquatints, exploring theories on meditation and compassion. The exhibition derives from the titles of two of Lipstein’s etchings, and for the artist it is this combination of ideas that ponder on the very nature and meaning of true compassion.

“The work of the artist, as I see it, is the work of meditation while constantly staring at vastly incomprehensible things, and continuously experiencing the inability to know what is it, what I am looking at. The meditation is twofold, external and internal. While trying to see clearly and understand what I am seeing, on the outside, I also meditate on the state of my ignorance, inside, my own inability to know. The internal meditation initiates me into the world of Compassion and in this way while meditating at Fishtree, the world of Compassion is born.” - Lipstein

Delving into spiritual and intellectual ideals throughout his subject matter, Lipstein invites the viewer to conclude their own narratives behind each print. Thus creating a world open to interpretation —taking inspiration from abstract expressionist ideas appearing in the work of Pollock and Rothko, dating back to French expressionism of the early 1900’s— Lipstein’s work is imbued with hidden meaning. Through each layer of the printing process, he builds an entirely new visual surface, re-invigorating the resulting work as a whole, while still maintaining each layer’s individual strength and beauty. This maze of marks and celebration of colour packs a strong emotional impact.

Born in Tel Aviv he arrived to Dublin in 1983, though he now resides in rural county Kildare. Through journaling his dreams since 1979 he developed a certain visual understanding of mythology and symbolism. Since the late nineties, following a career in natural medicine, he fully committed to printmaking and painting, using mythical-visual narrative and fragments collected from his own dreams as source material for his deeply unique compositions.

Upon graduating from the fine art print faculty of The National College of Art and Design Dublin in 2006, Lipstein received the CAP Foundation award, allowing him to produce an exhibition of large-scale paintings the following year. In 2009 Daniel graduated from the masters of fine art course at the print faculty of The National College of Art and Design, Dublin and rejoined Graphic Studio Dublin where he had first been a member in 2002.