1. loewsmagazine
20
malcom
liepke
His striking
paintings draw
the eye and
the emotions.
by abel delgado
wWhen you’re in front of a Malcolm Liepke painting, it’s almost
impossible to not have an emotional response. Intensity II
features a woman riveting you to the spot with her stare, while
her hands are posed in front of her almost defensively. Is she
inviting viewers in or warding them off? Alone Together shows
a woman embracing a man who’s staring off into space,
distracted—or maybe alienated—from her. Is it momentary
distraction or a sign he’s lost interest in her? In Seduction in
Blues and Greens, a couple lies in bed. The man is asleep, the
woman isn’t. Her expression is pensive but it’s not clear what
engage
she’s thinking—maybe she has tired of him and is focusing her
seductive gaze on someone we can’t see in the painting.
This focus on emotional content is clearly reminiscent of the
works of masters like Degas and Velázquez, among others. Not
a surprise—these legends were Liepke’s “teachers.” His formal
training at the Art College of Design in Pasadena, California only
lasted a year and a half. The school’s emphasis on conceptual
art didn’t work for the young artist, who moved to New York
in the late 1970s after dropping out. While working as a
commercial artist to support himself, Liepke studied the masters
Seduction, Oil on Canvas, 20 X 32

2. 21
spring/summer2010of figurative painting in museums all around the city. “He learned
composition from Degas, depiction of emotion from Toulouse-
Lautrec, flatness of imagery from Japanese woodblock printers
and flesh tones from Velázquez,” notes Steven Diamant of
Arcadia Fine Arts in New York City, which represents Liepke.
By the 1980s, Liepke’s commercial work had made it onto
the covers of magazines like Time, Newsweek, Forbes and
Sports Illustrated. He turned to fine art full-time in 1986 and
his work immediately resonated with buyers: his first one-man
exhibition completely sold out. Since then, Liepke has continued
to be successful both critically and commercially.
The appeal of his paintings starts with his immense skill,
readily evident in his lush brushwork, compelling composition
and vivid palette. Yet skill alone, as Diamant observes, “is empty
and unsatisfying.” The power in Liepke’s paintings comes
from the way he uses this skill to “depict the entire spectrum
of human emotion,” explains Diamant. The ultimate effect is a
feeling that each canvas is a glimpse into the hidden emotional
lives of the subjects, a meaningful moment that Liepke captures
as if he were a roving photojournalist instead of a painter.
COURTESYOFarcadiafinearts