Pippa Garner, formerly known as Philip Garner, is an artist and author known for making parody forms of consumer products as well as custom bicycles and automobiles. Notable publications written by Garner include The Better Living Catalog and Utopia—or Bust! Products for the Perfect World.
Biography
After serving in Vietnam as a combat artist, Garner began her career in the 1970s in Los Angeles as a performance artist. A Chevrolet she modified was featured in Esquire Magazine in 1975 and noticed by the San Franciscoart collectiveAnt Farm, and she subsequently began a collaboration with Chip Lord. As Philip Garner, she appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, the Merv Griffin Show and other talk shows showcasing her satirical consumer product "inventions", and her art has appeared in Car & Driver, Rolling Stone, Arts & Architecture and Vogue, among other publications. In the 1980s, Pippa began her transition to a different gender as part of what she considered an "art project to create disorientation in my position in society, and sort of balk any possibility of ever falling into a stereotype again." Pippa Garner participated in Trappings, an artwork by Two Girls Working: Tiffany Ludwig and Renee Piechocki. During her interview for the project, she described her transition from male to female as a form of artistic expression. Pippa has also appeared on the show "Monster Garage" as a guest artist in a few episodes. In 1997, Garner showed in "Hello Again!", a recycled art focused show which opened at the Oakland Museum and travelled throughout North America. The show, curated by Susan Subtle, featured Garner alongside Mildred Howard, Leo Sewell, Clayton Bailey, Claire Graham, Jan Yager, Remi Rubel, Mark Bulwinkle, and others. In 2017, Garner had a solo show at Redling Fine Art, Los Angeles where she presented sculptures, drawings, and videos. She lives in Long Beach, California.
Published works
''Better Living Catalog''
Philip Garner's Better Living Catalog: 62 Absolute Necessities for Contemporary Survival was published in 1982 by Putnam Publishing Group
''Utopia—or Bust! Products for the Perfect World''
Utopia—or Bust! Products for the Perfect World was published in 1984 by Putnam Publishing Group.
