Collection: Scott Filipiak

Hailing from the Midwest, Scott Filipiak, graduated from art school with a degree in Commercial Art/Graphic Design spring boarding his award-winning 20+ year career in graphic design/art direction.

Since moving to Utah in 2009, Scott has gone back to his roots of painting and photography and has shown in multiple galleries including the Springville Museum of Art, the Urban Arts Gallery and the Finch Lane Gallery. Scott has won numerous awards and continues to explore ideas inspired by the natural beauty of the West.

The barcode series developed out of Scott’s photography. He saw a group of aspen trees that reminded him of a barcode’s tightly grouped, vertical lines. Scott combined his love of technology and painting to create a working barcode that could be scanned using a free QR Reader app but could also stand alone as a work of art.

Scott’s barcodes often lead to chainsaws and axes in an ironic symbolization that often we are destroyed by that which creates us and the hidden fear of self-destruction. He has had numerous work juried into shows including the President’s Show in Salt Lake City, the Springville Museum of Arts’ Spring Salon and the Springville Museum of Art Spiritual and Religious Show.

Scott is known for his aspen tree barcode series but during the covid lockdowns in 2020 he was commissioned to paint a $2 bill for the Chief Innovation Officer at the FDIC and the crushed series was born. Scott hand makes the shaped frames that when combined with the realistic, almost photo quality, brush work creates instantaneously recognizable objects that jump off the wall. The crushed series incorporates technology with hidden NFC chips that lead to fun, often ironic videos and websites. He is currently showing his work at galleries in Ohio, North Carolina, Utah, Washington, and Montreal, Canada.