Time Travel (and why I'm so busy in my studio recently)

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Philip Koch, Friday Morning, oil on canvas, 40 x 60", 1990.
This was painted on Caves Road northwest of Baltimore, a
place that strongly reminds me of the long driveway I would
walk everyday to reach my school bus stop. It resonates with 
feeling for me because of this.

You may have noticed I haven't added a new post in several weeks. The Swope Art Museum in Terre Haute, IN is opening a major exhibition of my work in January. I've super excited about it and have been deeply involved with finishing paintings for that show. In the meantime here are some of my paintings from 1988-90.

As a break from standing at my easel I've been looking at images from some of my paintings from decades back that have been recently scanned from their 35mm slides to digital format. Gradually a comprehensive archive of my work is emerging.  It is wonderful to see these older paintings again as they all long ago were added to collections all over the country.



Philip Koch, Summer Morning, oil on caves, 48 x 64", 1998

Summer Morning is another painting inspired by my personal reveries. Shortly before he died when I was 13 my father taught me how to sail the small boat we had on Lake Ontario. It's a memory I hold dearly. To this day I can't pass a marina without stopping to hear the rigging slapping against the sailboats' masts.



Philip Koch, Sycamores, oil on paper mounted on panel, 20 x 25"
1990.

Sycamores are my 2nd favorite tree after white birches (we had lots of both where I grew up in upstate New York which accounts for my bias). This is a row of sycamores in Owings Mills, MD, near where I used to live. In winter the insane elegant dance their branches perform is inevitably worth studying.



Philip Koch, White Barns, oil on canvas, 48 x 72", 1988

I painted this oil only a few feet from the spot along Reisterstown Road near Owings Mills where I made Sycamores. These two beautiful barns are now completely surrounded by a dense new housing complex. I suspect they liked their surroundings better in the days when I painted this.

UPCOMING: 
I will be sharing all sorts of news about my upcoming solo exhibition at Swope Art Museum. It's going to be a big, exciting show. Jan. 20 - March 25, 2017. swope.org

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