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fulercorr"r f-. Lraprs is coNSiDEnEl) ONE OF THE IJINEST FICURE PAINTERS WORKING TODA\'"
by Lynne Moss Perricelli alcolm T. Liepke attributes his success as a figure painter to making art that is both personal and universal. "I see a girl with her head a certain way, and I find it telling, emotional, and I want to communicate that certain tmth," the Minneapolis-based artist says. "That tnrth or emotion makes us feel less alone, more human. Everyone goes through life with their own problems, but we live in a pretty universal world. I've found that the more personal the piece, the more people connect with it." Liepke paints only the subjects that interest him, and he works in the most time-effective manner
possible, maintaining some 20 to 3o paintings in progress at once. While maximizing his output to the galleries, his approach satisfies his desire to work loosely and spontaneously, making every brushstroke count. To find his subjects, Liepke simply looks at the people around him. He takes photos or makes drawings of the ideas that strike him and then pins them to a large wall in his studio. Occasionally he hires a model to pose but tends to rely on his photos to save the time and expense of posing. He tums to his imagination for the interiors, explaining, "I want to be free to do what I want." The artist describes the photos and sketches as merely a starting point from which he can make changes in the hair or dothes of the figures to suit the piece. He does, however, retain the distinctive features of the individual in his references. "You canlt make up feaHead Studv tures," he explains, "because the people will look cartoonish." 2002, oil, Usually the artist combines anrcte counesy Arcadia Fine Aits, several ideas from the wall into one composition. "It's too timeU^t"Y Ytl,!^lt*
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LEFT
Models With Japanese Screen 1986, oil, 26 x 20. OPPOSITE PAGE
Fixing the Gown 2002, oll,60 x 42. Private collection.
notebook or make a storyboard, so I just scan the wall and start combining several ideas," he says. Liepke then makes a thumbnail drawing in graphite to play with the composition, moving elements around to experiment with different combinations. Next, he blocks in the sketch with oils on canvas, creating a full-spectrum layout. The figures are rough at this stage, but he has established the overall feeling in terms of both color and composition. To Liepke, this is the most critical stage of the process: 'After I block in a painting, sometimes it will paint itself. I've decided the attitude of the piece, and I know whether or not it will work. If the painting fails, it does so at this level."
26
American Artist
At any given time Liepke could have up to Jo paintings at this stage scattered around his studio. "lfI get stuck on one painting, I can go on to another, then I come back to it later," he explains. When returning to a painting, Liepke first lays a glaze ofroughly equal parts oflinseed oil, clove oil, and poppyseed oil over the color block-in. This process, which he refers to as "oiling up," allows him to work wet-inwet. (He uses the mediums throughout the painting process to slow the paint's drying time.) Typically he builds the flesh tones and refines the face and hands. Ifhe again feels inhibited in trying to finish the painting, he sets it aside and turns to another using the same process of "oiling up."
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Passing the Time 1.992,
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A Mother's Kiss 2000, oi, 14 x 12.
favors Roberl Slmmons filberts in Nos. r to 22. His paints comprise about a dozen manufacturers, with Grumbacher, Holbein, and Rembrandt dominating. He premixes his gral s by combining ye11ow ochre or raw sienna with black
Oil paints from a variety of manufacturers, including Grumbacher, Holbein, and Rembrandt, in the following colors: a premtxed gray (yellow ochre or raw sienna with black and white)
alizarin crimson deep umber
raw umber
black white
sepia turquoise blue
jaune brilliant Naples yellow yellow ochre
indigo blue
Venetian red
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raw sienna
lime green olive green sap green
burnt sienna
Claessens Belgian linen canvas in a variety of textures
Robert Simmons filberts, Nos. 1 to 22
roughly equal parts of linseed oil, clove oil, and poppyseed oil
30
American Artist
and u,hite, and he mi-res all his colors with varying amorlnts of thls gray He also premixes some flesh colors. "My colol choices are pretty instinctlral," Liepke says. "l jr-rst look at the work of arlists I admire and try to learn from them. It's about personal taste, but I tend to like a ye1louish, gral-lsh green for the flesh tones to play offthe
orallges and pinks." As Liepke's rvork has matured, his palette has shifted fi'om darker valr-res to a bolder and more dlverse selection of colors. One explanation is simply that he moved to a brigliter shrdio. but the artist also wanted to prevent hlmself from becon-ring formulaic so he modified his color selectlon accordingll'. His painting process, despite-or perhaps because of-the careful pianning in the beginning, allor,vs intuition to dorninate. "When I'm in that zone, lt's child's p1a1r although on some deeper 1eve1, I l<now-nhat I'm doing and why," he once said. "The biggest thing about my art is getting my mind to open to the point rvhere it comes tumbling out. I can't think about brushstrokes. If I think too consclously, my arm freezes up." Before he turned to fine art in the mid-r9Sos, Liepke rvorked as an illustrator for such clients as Forbes and Time-a career that, despite its success, was touched by disappointment. "There's no great art by committee," he says. "l left illustration because I was tired of the compromise, of being a square peg in a round ho1e. I would know a painting was finished, but the art dlrector would decide what was right or wrong with it. It was too much of a fight, and I knew I was in the wrong profession."
BELOW
First to Arrive 1993, oil, 30 x 29. OPPOSITE PAGE
Two Men Waiting 1995, oil, 20 x 16.
$-i*g*k*'s Nmw ffi*mk A new book on Malcolm T. Liepke's work is now available from his gallery, Arcadia Fine Arts, in New York City. This beautiful hardcover book, Liepke; A Retro s p e ctiv e, f eatu res dozens of full-color reproductions of the artist's paintings. lt also includes essays on his achievements, influences, technique, and home and family life. With the art-
work in full color and large format, the book offers a bold and engaging look at Liepke's accomplishments, past and present. To order a copy, call: (2121965-1387 .
Working on a wet canvas is critical to Liepke's approach, which he modeled after the techniques of his heroes, fohn Singer Sargent and Velizquez being chief among them. Liepke especially admires Sargent's virtuosity in painting with a loaded brush, wet-in-wet, and Liepke's careful and nearly fully resolved layout of the composition ensures he will make few revisions whiie painting and retain the directness and spontaneity he desires. He works loosely and aims to communicate as much information as possible in the fewest number of strokes. "Learning to edit, to keep loose, is a lifelong process," the artist says. "ln the beginning it's natural to noodle everything to death, but slowly you can learn to say more with less, to make sure each brushstroke has meaning." Like Sargent, YeTlzquez employed color and composition brilliantly, but more than Sargent, the Spanish master captured a sense ofthe subject's essential being. Traveling to the Prado, in Madrid, as pafi of a period of selfeducation he undertook after leaving the Art Center College of Design, in
Pasadena, California, in the mid-r97os, Liepke came to view Vel6zquez's paintings as the embodiment of everything he admires in ad: the timelessness of the figure achieved through an objective and expert rendering ofthe subject's features, ciothing, and setting. Despite Liepke's close ties to past masters, he insists on painting contemporary people in their own time. Omitting details that would place a subject in the zrst cenlury to make the images more universal, the artist often chooses themes of isolation and ambivalenceas relevant now as in the rTth century. "lt comes down to what your truth is," he said in an interview for a retrospective of his work. "Heroes helped me express my vision of the world. I'm a figure painter, and I use figures to express what I want to say, to fit the statements I wish to make. I choose the things, large and small, from the artists I admire, to help me in the pursuit of human truth." Liepke's painting surface is Claessens Belgian linen canvas, which he buys by the ro11 and stretches as needed. He keeps six varieties on hand, from rough to fine. For brushes, he December
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BELOW
Beach Scene 1980, orl, 22 x 28. OPPOSITE PAGE
Fitting the Gown i995,
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Clearly the move to fine art has fulfilled Liepke on mali1. levels. He describes himself as emotional and sa1's titat his strength comes from the emotional irr-rpact he pulls out of the work. "Although I do think about the things I am erpressing.
I try to make it as direct as I
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try not to get in the rval'of the emotions," he once said. "ln essence, I believe that no matter how alone rve may feel in the rvorld-how n e imagine we are experiencing things in a vacuum-we all share the same human experiences. We all have the same basic needs for connection, iove, and understanding. I try to reach those universal needs; it's what's primal in ar1. I try to say it through mood, coior, atmosphere, and terture. Bottom line: it's the emotional, and I just want to get it out. It's difTicult to express through words things that are so beautiful that they have no words. I can't explain it. I have to paint it." f Lynne Moss Perricelli is
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witer and editor in
Malcolm T. Liepke is primarily a self-taught artist, having learned most of his technique by emulating the style of the American lmpressionists and other artists. He has participated in numerous group shows, including U.S. Artists "Re-Presenting Representation" and the International Fine Art and Antiques Fair. The artist's work hangs in several private and public collections, including those of the National Academy of Design, in New York City, and the Estate of Armand Hammer. Liepke is represent-
ed by Arcadia Fine Arts, in New York City.
New Jersey, December
2006
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