Untitled - Jeremy Lipking

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t just 27 yearsold, Jeremy
Lipking is in high demand.
Sincehe madehis enuy
into the contemporaryaft
world three years ago, dealers,collectors, and lournalists have been
clamoring to connect with this gifted
painter. In 2001, he won the Artists
Choice Gold Medal Award at the
California Art Club's 91st Annual
Gold MedalJuried Exhibition. The
following year, his painang Antique
Chair received the Leslie and Roben
Zasa Museum Acquisition Award at
the 92nd Annual Gold MedalJuried
Exhibition.
Lipking's path to acclaim began at
the California Art Institute in Westlake \4llage, a school that offers
classesin traditional painting techniques. While there, the artist dedicated himself to long hours of study,
and after only a yeaq he was invited
to become a drawing insurrctor. In
1999, during a stroll around the
gallery-rich area of West Hollywood, he and his wife, Danielle,
walked into the elegant Edenhurst
Gallery where they met Tom
Gianetto, the co-owner and director.
With one look at photos of the
artist's work, Gianetto immediately
asked him to participate in the
upcoming California Spring Salon
exhibition. At that event, Lipking
metJeffrey Morseburg, the owner
and director of Morseburg Galleries,
who offered to represent and mentor
the artist, Sving him his first solo
exhibition at his West Hollywood
gallery inJanuary 2001. Now, Lipking is also representedby Waterhouse Gallery in SantaBarbara,California; Legacy Gallery in Scottsdale,
Arizona; and Arcadia Gallery in New
York Ciry where his show this winter was a sellout.
Although Lipking paints landscapesand still lifes, his refined figure paintings-usually of women,
often posed outdoors in dappled
lighting-attract the most aftention.
He prefers to work on one painting
at a time, taking about two weeks to
complete a canvas,and he chooses
his content carefully. "When I am
IUL\'100.1
Above: At tt e Doon 2OO2,
o i l o n l i n e n , 5 0x 3 0 .
Opposite page:
Antique ChaiL 2OO2,
o i l o n l i n e n . 4 0x 3 0 .
All artwork this article
private collection.
doing a painting, I don't think of anything else," he remarks. "If I am going to
work this long on a piece, I pretty much
like to know where I'm going before I
begin."
When he decidesto paint a figure, first
the artist photographs the model in various poses.He also paints an oil sketch,
becausehe considersit a better record of
color and value than a photo. If his subject is a nude en plein air, planning is
especiallyimportant, since lighting
chanEles
quickly and the logistics of painting a nude outdoors are challenging. Lipkinpl tends to do those piecesin the
secludedarea around his family's mountain cabin, and his wife is usually the
t0
obliging model. The result of one such
sessionis Plein Air Nude.
The visual richnessand muted tones
Lipking achievesin his paintingsare a
testament to his admiration of the elegant
virtuosity ofJohn Singer Sargent and the
luminosity of Joaquin Sorolla. Lipking
favors Winsor & Newton and Utrecht
paints. His extendedcolor selection,
which he arrangesclockwiseon the glasstopped end table that servesas his palette,
includes titanium white, cadmium yellow
light, yellow ochre, cadmium orange,
cadmium red, alizarincrimson, transparent iron oxide red, burnt sienna,ultramarine blue, cobalt blue, viridian, and ivory
black. For works such as SeatedModel,
Above, left: Wrnler
Contemplation,2OO2,
o i l o n l i n e n ,4 0 x 2 4 .
Above, right: Ashley, 2001,
o i l o n l i n e n ,3 6 x 2 4 .
Opposite pagei October Sky,
2 0 0 1 .o i l o n l i n e n .3 0 x 2 0 .
.L\1I.]RI(].\N AR'I]S'I
Day Dreaming, 2OO2,oil on linen, 32 x 24.
'\]II:RI(]A\ \RI'IS'I
",'i;rii' .'
,.*.,
seated Model,2002,oil on linen.20 x 16.
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Above: Spanish Grl,
2(x)2,oll on llnen,
2tY,x24N.
Rlght:St arvfrat, 2002,
oil on linen,30r 20.
Oppositepage:
PlelnAh Nude,2002,
oil on linen,20 x 11.
however,the artist employsa limited
paletteof only titanium white, cadmium yellow,ochre,cadmiumred,
and viridian. "You can do a lot more
than you think asyou limit your colors," he advises.
Lipking starts eachpainting by
blockingin the composition,keeping his layersthin so that he can
rework areasasneeded.He avoids
using paint direcdy from the tube at
the early stages,preferringto mix his
colorswith a medium of I part
damarvarnish,I part standoil, and
5 partsturpentine.The artist holds
backthe darts to "leaveroom to go
a litde darkerif I haveto later on."
he explains.To achievethe rich
color harmoniesthat he aimsfoq he
graysmost of his colorsto foil one
or two areasof intensecolor. An
excellentexampleof this approachis
At theDoor in which the dulled
bluesand purplesmakethe
turquoiseand orangesing.
Design,for Lipking, is paramount. In his teachingdays,he
directedhis studentswith the
mantra"Shape.Edge.Value."A follower of his own advice,in Antique
Cbair, the artist crafted a slighdy
irregular edgefor the kimono, thereby creatinga more interestingbackground shape.Then he orchestrated
the light pattern of the kimono so
that the valueboth blendsand separatesthe figure from the chair.
For all the well-handledformal
elemens,aswell asthe confident
brushwork,the sheerpresenceof
Lipking'sfiguresis most captivating.
For example,in Winter Contemplation, ayoang woman standingin
snowywoodsis wearinga none-toowarm winter coat and weather-worn
boots.The viewer is enthralledwith
a narrativehalf-told, iust asthe
artist'sown story is only partially
written. However,if pastperformanceis any predictor of future
results,evenmore exceptionalpaintings are to come.I
Molly Sipleis a reguhr contihutor to the
CalifomiaArt Club'snewslenerSheis an
artist memberof that organization.
AMEzuCANARTIST