Artist's Corner: Klipper Captures the World

Southwest Minneapolis photographer Stuart Klipper wanted to make it clear that this is not really his thing.

“I’ve never been inclined towards voyeuristically looking toward other people’s miseries and I’m not a storm chaser,” he said.

But when he found himself steps away from the devastation in North Minneapolis as it was happening on May 22, he felt differently about it and was compelled to document what he saw.

He was at his girlfriend’s house, close to the worst of the damage. Fortunately, he and his girlfriend were unharmed and, while there was debris flying into the yard, damage to the house was minor. Their cars were less fortunate, with Klipper’s car totaled by a falling tree. (Hers still runs, as Klipper said his car did the gentlemanly thing and bore the brunt of the impact.) 

After the tornado, Klipper took his camera and one roll of film and explored the neighborhood by foot, turning the painful scene into art.

But this was an anomaly. For the past several decades, Klipper has spent most of his time photographing the beautiful and hard to reach places rather than those that are hard to look at and close to home. 

Klipper grew up in New York. Or, that is, at least as grown up as he’s ever become. “It’s debatable which direction is up,” he said. He left New York for college in Michigan and then Sweden for a year, returning to New York after that. In 1970, he moved to Minneapolis, attracted by the long cold winters and the Swedish connection. Aside from his frequent and extensive traveling, he’s been here ever since.

“I’ve hit the road a lot in my life but it’s home base, Minneapolis,” Klipper said.

Discovering an interest in photography as a child, Klipper bought his first camera with 25 cents and a Wheaties box top. Today, he works primarily with a wide-field Linhof Technorama. 

For Klipper, photography is about knowing where to stand and finding your place in the world. He has a slogan that was part of an artist-designed manhole cover project in downtown Minneapolis in the 80s: “Know where you are; Be where you’re at.”

Six separate times, where Klipper’s at has been Antarctica. As of 2009, he is also one of the very few people who can say they have stood at both the North and South Pole. His photographic journeys have taken him to Greenland, Iceland, Australia, and Sri Lanka, just to name a few, as well as to all 50 states. 

Klipper said he takes things as they come and believes that nothing is intrinsically more special than anything else. In the end, creating his art is about being aware. 

“If there’s natural glory abounding,” Klipper said, “I don’t close my eyes.” 

Fellow artist Jonathan Gross first met Klipper 15 years ago by purchasing a print of one of his photographs. The two are now friends and Gross credits Klipper with his own rediscovery of photography after a decade-long hiatus. And while Gross finds Klipper’s art fascinating and engaging, it is Klipper as a person that Gross has the most respect for.

“I am most impressed with his adventurous and seeking spirit—his quest to live life fully and share that thrill with the rest of us,” Gross said.

You can find Klipper’s photographic book on Antarctica at . Plans for an upcoming TPT Minnesota Original special are also in the works. View his work on Facebook; albums of his photography are all public access.