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A new direction ver the past few years, Malcolm Liepke has wanted to break away from the art he has become so famous for painting and try something
completely new. Having grown tired of the narrative element of his previous work
and of the time-consuming background scenes and other similar details, Liepke has decided to focus on what it is about his paintings that have intrigued himand his many collectors-over the years: the people.
"l wanted to get more at the core of my work and that is the people," says Liepke. "l also wanted to relate to the people from an emotional standpoint and strip away all
the superfuous narrative of the previous work. So, I decided to do people in simple
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backgrounds, contemporary figures." \7hile the new work is still figurative
and traditional, Liepke thinks that there are new elements to the work that will appeal to contemporary collectors as well.
"These are emotional portraits, and my feeling right now is that less is more," says Liepke. "I'm playing up the key elements but also being very subdued
and minimal. I lose hands and arms in the backgrounds and, really, fade away into nothingness. My color is my color, though, and that wili never change." Liepke has Found this new process to be quite liberating and looks forward to more changing rypes of work. Currently, he feels that these small portraits lend themselves quite naturally to being done
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Iarge, and he's looking at ways to make some of the new work up to 6 by 8 feet. "They have really freed me up to not be bound by the structure of a narrative
painting," says Liepke. "I used to have to throw things in the background that relate to the real world but don't have to do that anymore. I now use a basic background with geometric shapes, and the whole thing just lets me get at the figures, which is what I've always wanted to do. Now, what is highlighted is what ] wanted to do-concentrate on the face, and everything else just gets lost." Liepke's change of sryle has aiso been fueled by the amount of artists he sees imitating his look. "I have lots of imitators, and I just
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The Gallery Says . .
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"Malcolm Liepke is presenting a group of smaller-scale new paintings displaying a distinctly new style. While still containing his brilliant draftsmanship, these oils will contain new palette ranges and a visual exploration into the distortion of depth of field j' --Steue I)iamant, Owner, Arcrtdia Gnl/ery r#{
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decided to leave all of that behind," says Liepke. "My thinking is if you want all of that, go ahead and take it, it's not that big to me anymore. Let them do all the cafd scenes, the generic traditional figurative work-it just seems so stale to me now and lacking in real content. They don't
"I won't go back to the ful1 narrative work," says Liepke. "I don't see myself ever doing that again. That door has closed, and from here on out, I'11 do
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different shifts with my work, but I don't see myself returning to that style. I've said everything I needed to say
coliectors and let them know what I'm
paint like me, they can't draw like me, but they take my vocabulary. So, I've decided to just let it go, they can have it. I'm moving away from it entirely." Not only does Liepke find a sense of liberation in moving away from his
and anything else would just be boring.
you just ger painted inro a corner. Now, I feel like a kid in a candy store
previous work, he also doesn't see himself
and not bound to have to do things the
returning to it.
whole way."
I feel like it is important for me to break out of that and try something new. It's important to take risks; otherwise
course, for Liepke, it's all about collectors understanding and appreciating the new work as well. "The first step is to educate the
doing no"v," says Liepke. "The very
thing you look for in figurative paintings is the people-that is r,vhat moves you. How they look at you and getting to that emotional core. It's scary
but very exciting." o For a dirert link to the
exhibitittg gallery go to
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