Geoff Hippenstiel is able to push abstraction in a manner that reinvigorates the materiality of paint. Brush work is evident, but Hippenstiel’s tool of choice is the palette knife supplemented with the unlikely spray gun. He uses diverse materials such as enamel, wax, metallic and fluorescent artist’s pigments, as well as industrial paints.  Lavish, viscous, dramatic, and vivid - the paint allows for an illusion of depth while affirming the importance of surface. The artist’s compositions are loosely based on photographs actual people and landscapes, or reproductions of well-known artworks, yet beautifully exemplify abstraction and the full texture of the medium.

Geoff Hippenstiel received both an M.F.A. and B.F.A. in Drawing and Painting from the University of Houston, TX (2010, 2006). Recent solo exhibitions include Focus: Geoff Hippenstiel, Texas Contemporary Art Fair, Houston, TX (2013); Territorial Pissings, Devin Borden Gallery, Houston, TX (2013); and Focus: Geoff Hippenstiel, Houston Fine Art Fair, Houston, TX (2012). Recent group exhibitions include Outside the Lines, Contemporary Art Museum Houston, Houston, TX (2013-2014); GRADE(climbing), Makebish Gallery, New York, NY (2013); Texas Biennial 2013, Blue Star Contemporary Art Museum, San Antonio, TX; and Just then and again, The UNO St. Claude Gallery, New Orleans, LA (2013). Since 2010, Hippenstiel’s work has been featured and reviewed in various articles and publications such as: The HoustonPress, Glasstire, Arts+Culture Magazine, Art in America, artltd, the Houston Chronicle and many more. The artist currently lives and works in Houston, Tx.