Liorah Tchiprout is a London-based artist whose monotypes and paintings are known for their intimate, often unsettling portraits of handmade puppets. Her monotypes frequently serve as both standalone works and critical studies for her larger oil paintings, exploring themes of Jewish identity, femininity, and the boundary between the real and imaginary.
Tchiprout's printmaking practice is foundational to her work, influencing the "graphic brushstrokes" and layered logic she applies to her later paintings.
She constructs puppets from wood, clay, fabric, and human hair (often her own) that are 1/4 life sized. These "players" serve as her models, allowing her to draw from observation while inhabiting a fantastical realm inspired by Yiddish literature and theatre.
Her monotypes are characterized by a highly tactile quality, where the pressure of her hands and marks on the plate mimic the physical impressions she makes when sculpting her puppets' clay faces.
