By Bonnie Gangelhoff
When Jeremy Lipking first appeared in Southwest Art in 2001, he was creating a major buzz among Southern California gallerists and artists. Some were comparing the young Californian to a modern-day John Singer Sargent. Lipking was a mere 26 years old at the time. His career has continued to flourish, and these days he is known as one of the country’s preeminent young figurative painters. The talented artist brings a sensuous magic to his canvases, rendering rich visual narratives reminiscent of the great masters. Not content to rest on his laurels, Lipking keeps busy in his spare moments doing things such as designing iPhone applications for artists.
Has your style or approach to your art changed since you first appeared in Southwest Art? I don’t think my style has changed much. But there might be a difference in the look of my work because I tend to spend more time now on each step of the painting process, from the initial design concept to the finished brush strokes.
What is your proudest accomplishment so far? I don’t really have one accomplishment that I am most proud of … yet.
Would you have done anything differently? No. I think all the decisions I’ve made put me where I am today.
What advice do you give to artists just starting out in their careers? Paint for yourself and no one else. If you don’t like what you’re painting, chances are nobody will.
What motto do you live by? Wherever you go, there you are.
What artists have influenced you? Living artists: Richard Schmid, Burton Silverman, Clyde Aspevig, and Antonio Lopez Garcia. Deceased artists: John Singer Sargent, Anders Zorn, and the naturalist painters such as Jules Bastien-Lepage and Emile Friant.
What are you working on now? I’m working on paintings for a solo show next June in New York, and I’m working on a landscape painting book. Last summer, I shot an outdoor figure painting demonstration video that I’m really excited about. We shot it in an aspen grove in the Sierras. It’s in post-production now, and hopefully it will be done soon. Also, I just started working on a documentary about a well-known artist, and I also started sculpting. It’s extremely challenging, but I love it.
REPRESENTATION
American Legacy Fine Arts, Pasadena, CA; Arcadia Fine Arts, New York, NY; www.lipking.com.
UPCOMING SHOW
Solo show, Arcadia Fine Arts, June 2010.
First appearance in Southwest Art: 21 Under 31, September 2001
Awards won since then: Portrait Society of America’s Art of the Portrait Conference: Honor Award, 2009; Award of Exceptional Merit, 2008; First Place, 2007; and Best of Show, 2006. Also the 2002 Museum Acquisition Award at the California Art Club’s Gold Medal Juried Exhibition.
Featured in “Success Stories” in December 2009