Jeremy Lipking
Painter • Agoura Hills, CA
Jeremy Lipking
Distinction: Lipking is a young leader in the resurgence of traditional art in California.
What are some of the biggest changes you’ve seen in the art world during your career? Since I started about 10 years ago, there are many more figure painters, and the figure in art has become much more popular.
Where do you find inspiration? I can find inspiration in almost anything and almost anywhere, from light reflecting in a puddle of mud to a big Sierra peak. Sometimes an idea for a painting starts with a color or the way two colors harmonize. I’ll design a whole painting around those two colors. The subject isn’t always the “spark,” it’s just a vehicle to say what I want to say in the visual language of representational art.
What do you hope to accomplish in the next 10 years? I hope to keep growing as an artist and maybe paint some masterpieces, although the perfect painting always seems to be a little out of reach. But that’s what keeps us painting with passion. If we ever did a painting we thought was a masterpiece, we could quit painting and relax.
How do you define success? Success in a work of art is when I’ve said what I want to say almost perfectly. It’s when the work is almost as good as it looked in my mind when I started.
Describe yourself in one word. Indescribable.
How do you think you have helped contribute to a revival of interest in traditional art in California? Maybe I have inspired someone to take up painting who will become a modern-day master. I have always been generous with my knowledge. Hopefully, by sharing information I’ve learned from years of trial, I can save a person who is just beginning a lot of time in the learning process.
People would be surprised to learn that … I started as a landscape painter.
How has Southwest Art contributed to your career? I think the first magazine article I was in was Southwest Art’s 21 Under 31 story. It might have even been the first of those annual stories. Or it might have been the Artist to Watch column. Either way I’m pretty sure Southwest Art was the first place I ever saw my art printed in a magazine. So I guess you can say that my art career started in Southwest Art.
Featured in “40 Prominent People” in May 2011.
