Philip Koch Paintings

Philip Koch, Clearing, oil on canvas, 30 x 60 inches, 2022. I was looking at my painting above,  Clearing,  Even a complex painting has to begin simply. Remembering how it started in my studio with me experimenting with different compositions of its basic flat shapes. At this stage it feels like arranging cut out  colored paper   on a flat table top. You can express a lot even with that.  I fell into reverie about my early days when I was an abstract painter. When I studied painting at Oberlin College probably 90% of my canvases were simple colorful abstractions of flat shapes.  At the time I hadn't seen how deeply ingrained this habit had become in my practice. S omething changed when I got to Indiana University to start their MFA Painting program.  It's funny how sometimes we learn the most critical lessons from things that at first seem modest and unremarkable. I was visiting the studio of another artist in the program. In the corner was a...

Wanted to share a little  background on some of the paintings in Somerville Manning Gallery's solo show of my work April 9 - May 8, 2021. First here's an interview we did about the show It's with the gallery's director Rebecca Moore. The interview was broadcast 4/28/21 on WCHE 1520 radio near Philadelphia. Somerville Manning Gallery's exhibition of Philip Koch paintings continues through May 8, 2021 Here are some individual paintings in the show. Radiance, oil on panel, 12 x 24 inches, one of the paintings Rebecca Moore talks about early in our interview. This is a view of one of the tidal marshes in Wellfleet on Cape Cod. I originally found the spot by jogging down a road whose name I liked- King Phillip Road.     The Reach IV, oil on canvas, 40 x 60 inches, another of the paintings discussed in the radio interview. This is one of my most autobiographical paintings, a tribute to the love I felt from my father who used to take me sailing at night on one of the ...

Philip Koch, Coke Ovens, Leetonia, vine charcoal, 12 x 9 inches, 2017 Last week the Allen Memorial Art Museum at Oberlin College in Ohio purchased one of my works for their permanent collection. The Allen is widely regarded as one of the best college art museums in the country. Museum Director Andria Derstine made the selection of the above drawing from a number of my works on paper. The Allen was the biggest influence in my decision my Freshman year to drop my intended Sociology major and become a painter. It is deeply satisfying to see my art career come full circle and have my work enter the Museum.  It's an odd subject for a drawing- two gaping dark openings on an otherwise sun drenched hillside. These mysterious caves are long abandoned underground coke ovens. The subject seemed ripe with potential. The irregular black mouths of these caves suggest all sorts of possible meanings- some perhaps a bit eerie but mysteriously attractive at the same time. They're a r...

Frank Stella, Chocurua , acrylic on canvas, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York Working in my studio this morning on a new large canvas that's based on the small oil painting below, I was blocking in the main shapes. This is the stage before I start adding any details. Three major trees dominate the composition. Bringing out a different personality for each one calls for rearranging the patterns of their branches. As the new painting is much larger some  additional invention is needed.                                                           Philip Koch, Uncharted, oil on panel, 7 1/2 x 10 inches, 2015 Detail from Philip Koch's in-progress 36 x 48 inch canvas As I worked my mind drifted back to my earliest days as a painter studying at Oberlin College in the late 1960's. At the time I was e...