Epilepsy Motifs by Jan Peter Tripp

Today's artists also deal with the epilepsy motif (see the episodes 'Epilepsy and Art in 2007' of this series) - e.g. the renowned painter, sculptor and author Jan Peter Tripp, born in Oberstdorf (Allgäu) in 1945 and now living and working in the Alsatian Mittelberge. The broad public has become acquainted with him especially through his portraits of prominent personalities. (Children and avid readers of children's books however will find his father even more familiar: Franz Josef Tripp, who died in 1978, was the 'graphic father' of popular characters in children's literature such as 'Robber Hotzenplotz', 'Jim Button and the Engine Driver’ and 'The Little Ghost'.)
Jan Peter Tripp’s painting style is characterised by 'hyper-realism', i.e. by almost unbelievable attention to detail, which sometimes makes his paintings seem more 'photographed' than 'painted'. And yet the composition, intensity, individuality and charisma of these works are more than just a photographic reflection.

Jan Peter Tripp: The Deep Fall (around 1975)

Someone has fallen. Not from the tree - there would be no reason to climb a tree during the dying days of winter. There is also no ladder to be seen.

Jan Peter Tripp: The Deep Fall (detail)

The fallen one has been lying there for quite some time - time enough for someone to have fetched a blanket. His face is not visible.
People standing around - unagitated, rather helpless and at a loss, a little sheepish with even less empathy and hardly any care, something like, "Oh well, what can you do!"
He has fallen again, the epileptic. Fallen deeply.

Jan Peter Tripp: ''A Little Crack' (around 1974)

That's me. One like you. But my life has a little crack. It runs through my head. I'm a little sad and sometimes also a little resigned - you see the crack more than you see my face. But don't you think my face is rather normal? Don't you have just a little crack somewhere in your life?