Flip Flop

Tony DeLap
Flip Flop
Mixed media, 1962-63
22 x 12 x 4 inches
Gift of Ruth and Murray Gribin
2001.010.038

Tony DeLap’s works often incorporate both realms of painting and sculpture, and in the case of Flip Flop, the use of graphic design elements. Using modest materials such as transfer letters, wood, and board, DeLap creates a pristine, double-sided object. On both sides, he creates a step down into the picture plane with the slightest slivers of space that allows the viewer to look all the way through to the other side—reminding us of the sculptural element of the object. DeLap created several examples of these “painting constructions” as he calls them, playfully using four letter phrases, such as Mona-Lisa, Four Dots, and Hard Edge.