Philip Koch Paintings

Winslow Homer, An Open Window,  oil, 1872, Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Maine Here are two paintings by two of my favorite American artists, Winslow Homer (1836-1910) and Charles Burchfield (1893-1967).    Differences abound between the hushed interior at the Portland Museum of Art and the glistening sunlight that dazzles our eye in the Memorial Art Gallery 's landscape. Each has its own color sense and distinctive mood. Charles Burchfield , Springtime in the Pool, watercolor,  1922, Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, New York But both artists energize their paintings by doing something surprisingly similar- deliberately contrasting the regular horizontal or vertical lines in their compositions against prominently stated curves. Winslow Homer's woman stands erect framed by the vertical edges of the window. Homer contrasts the straightness of the right side of her dress against the curving arc of his models left hip....

You have to love this wild building. It's formerly the City Hall in Corning, NY, now transformed into the Rockwell Museum . My wife Alice and I visited there last weekend and became instant fans. Founded some 41 years ago with a focus on the art of the West, the Museum has recently embarked on a mission to broaden its focus to other schools of art.  And since January, it has a new Director, Brian Whisenhunt. Brian until recently was the Director at the Museum of the Southwest in Texas and before that Director of the Swope Art Museum in Indiana (where my solo exhibition continues through March 25, 2017. It really is a small world).  One of the first pieces to greet you as you enter the Museum is this bronze Deborah Butterfield untitled horse from 2000 (above). Nearby is the temporary exhibit Modern Masters, Contemporary Icons  on loan from the Old Jail Art Center in Albany, TX. I'd have posted images of some of its works (including...

Arnot Art Museum in Elmira, New York recently opened their innovative exhibition 23 Pairs: Considering Compare and Contrast  that matches 23 works from their own collection with 23 works borrowed from museums, galleries and private collections across America. I was honored to have my painting  Uncharted II  included in the show paired with the work of one of my heroes, the American Impressionist Willard Metcalf.  My wife Alice and I drove up to Elmira over the weekend to visit the Arnot for our first time to see the show. Christina Johnson who heads up Education for the Arnot kindly gave us a personal tour of the entire museum. Here she is with some of the signage at the beginning of the 23 Pairs  show. Here I am (grinning ear to ear) standing next to my painting with Metcalf's delicate oil The Hills in February  at the left. The March issue of Fine Art Connoisseur  magaz...

John Frederick Kennett (Am. 1816-1872), Water Scene oil on canvas, Eskenazi Museum of Art There are always a few places that exert an out sized influence on our lives. For me one such place was the Eskenazi Museum of Art in Bloomington, IN (formerly the Indiana Unversity Art Museum). The day after the opening reception for Swope Art Museum 's exhibition of my paintings done in Edward Hopper's studio my wife and I drove over from Terre Haute, IN to visit my old grad school, Indiana University.  Though I got my MFA degree in painting at IU in 1972 this was the first time since then I was able to visit the Museum. Me with Eskenazi's Kennett, Feb. 2017 In 1970 the painting above by John Kennett was the first piece to catch my eye when I arrived at the campus Museum, mostly because the scene closely mirrored the look of the beach where I grew up on Lake Ontario outside of Rochester. Is there any other painting that captures the glow...

Here are a few more pieces from Swope Art Museum 's impressive Permanent Collection. My wife Alice's favorite sculptor is Paul Manship (Am. 1885-1966). Commanding your attention in Swope's lobby is a terrific painted plaster cast of his  Diana.   Swiftly moving, a dead shot with a bow and arrow, and always accompanied by her faithful hounds she's an impressive figure. No wonder Alice liked her. I'm a big fan too. The Swope's first Director was John Rogers Cox (1915 - 1990) who when he took the job was the youngest museum director in the country. That he had a good eye is attested to by his purchases of widely acclaimed paintings by Edward Hopper, Thomas Hart Benton and Charles Burchfield. Cox was an accomplished painter himself, best known for his visionary landscapes. These two are in Swope's Collection: above Scales Mound  from 1974, below White Cloud  from 1943 & 1946. Artist Sketching, Milton on the Hudson by George Inness (1825-189...

Having visited the Swope Art Museum several times before, I knew that it had a remarkable Permanent Collection. We traveled there earlier this month for the opening reception for their current exhibition of my own paintings. Naturally we wanted to see the work in their Collection as well. Above is my wife Alice standing next to Swope's Thomas Hart Benton painting  Threshing Wheat from 1938-39. The tractor's smoke and the clouds in the painting seem to move of course,  but in Benton's lively imagination his piles of wheat and the distant hills pulsate as well. Art can transport us to a different place or into a different mood. A real gem in Swope's Collection is Grant Wood's  Spring in Town , oil, 1941.  While painted in the threatening early years of WWII, it exudes a quiet optimism as we watch the figure preparing the ground for planting.  The garden's freshly turned earth is magically da...

This is me last week in Terre Haute, Indiana grinning next to Swope Art Museum 's famous Hopper oil,  Route 6, Eastham  from 1941.  Here are some more images of Swope's current exhibition  Light and Shadow: Paintings and Drawing by Philip Koch from Edward Hopper's Studio (through March 25, 2017). Susan Baley, Swope's Director, conceived of the show to connect some contemporary art with some of the key artworks from the founding collection when the Swope opened to the public 75 years ago.  Here's the signage at the entrance to the three galleries the Museum has devoted to my work. In one of the two larger galleries, a  panorama of three of my large landscape oils- left: After the Storm III, 45 x 90 inches, 1986, middle: Horizon, 40 x 60 inches, 2016, right: Down to the Bay , 36 x 72 inches, 2008. The lighting on these paintings in the gallery was just perfect to show their colors. Below: In the other large ...