Today I’m dipping back to one of my earliest Culture Spots, reading the work of word artist, Richard Tipping.
My awareness of this artist began with Lisa and I and our two boys enjoying some gardens in Lake Macquarie and then encountering some letters formed in brick laid out in a circle on the ground.
T…H…E…. E…A..R.T.H
It spells the word earth… it’s an environmental statement about noticing the earth beneath our feet.
No, it spells the word heart… it’s about love and connection.
Then again, it’s the word hearth… the earth is a warm inviting fire
…the earth is on fire!
We found ourselves in a gallery shop where we were told that the work by Richard Tipping was called Hear the Art. We loved it so much, I got the T-shirt!
I think Richard Tipping is also a bit pleased with this wordplay. He keeps repeating it,
on lawns,
on steps at the State Library of NSW.
In my Culture Spot years ago I noted that: Our confusion in the garden echoed the ‘almost-discoveries’ and frustrations of natural theology… confident that the world comes from the hand of a purposeful artist you try to discern its meaning but, as good theologians will tell you, we needed the artist to speak to us and reveal the meaning of this word puzzle that, literally, had us walking in circles.
Since then I have been alert to how playful Richard Tipping’s work can be.
He’s an Australian word artist, poet, writer who has been having fun and making profound statements with public poetry and riddles for decades. One of his practices is to slightly alter or re-imagine signs:
Did this married couple appreciate the irony that on the day they promised to love one another the sign pointed to a future where there would be no understanding at any time.
Tipping makes the figure of speech ‘stumbling block’ concrete, solid as rock.
And a sign that looks pedestrian may be calling you to the abandonment, joy and beauty of singing.
It’s not possible to stop art… even a stop sign can’t contain it.
With tongue in cheek, Tipping offers back the dismissive lines we’ve all heard: photography is easy and all art is the same.
He invites us to think about the road ahead in our lives and asks us if it’s possible not just to reduce the speed at which we drive but to reduce need. After all, all people share the earth’s resources why form one lane, when there’s a bigger vision before us: form one planet!
Over the decades, Tipping has created interactive, open-ended poetry simply using the words: if…it…is. As children play on it, consider all the questions that the adults nearby are forming in their minds. The simple words are about identity, being, futurity, possibility…
Richard Tipping – in a way, he’s a graffiti artist; in a way, he’s a sculptor; in a way, he’s a poet.
His work reminds me of the Hebrew Bible’s love of a good wordplay swapping letters around in tri-consonantal roots, using vocabulary with slippery meaning to make puns and to riddle the reader.
His work reminds me of early Christians playing around with initials and titles of Jesus making inscriptions with hidden word games in them.
As word ministers with kids, with friends, with congregations we can learn something from Richard Tipping about the pleasure and power of a word puzzle that helps us remember or engage or see something new.
He helps us see the importance of asking eternal questions in public places.
