Artist of Note | Karl Dempwolf

Love of the land

Karl Dempwolf, The Big Tujunga View of Delta Flats, oil, 18 x 25.

This story was featured in the November 2016 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art  November 2016 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.

California artist Karl Dempwolf has a deep love of nature. When he sets up his paint box, he says, “It’s not really important that it’s going to turn into some fantastic painting. It’s just the act of being out in nature all by myself, sitting in God’s creation, and putting something down on canvas.”

Dempwolf spent his childhood in Germany before immigrating to the United States with his family. He says his mother always encouraged him to paint the grand Bavarian mountains they left behind. Thus began a long-lasting love of both art and landscape.

Dempwolf’s colorful scenes evoke an impressionistic style by combining painterly brushwork with vibrant color. Dempwolf has dabbled in still lifes and portraits, but his passion remains in painting the land and the sea. He is always striving to make his work stand out by painting scenes that reflect “my awe of the masses, shapes, and design elements encountered in nature, as well as the inspiration I receive on a much grander spiritual scale.” He and his brother also create gilded, hand-carved frames for his paintings.

Dempwolf’s work has been shown in numerous museums across the United States, and he will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award during the sixth annual Plein Air Convention & Expo in April 2017. He is a signature member of the California Art Club and also gained notoriety when President Barack Obama presented one of his paintings to German Chancellor Angela Merkel as a diplomatic gift last winter. —Mackenzie McCreary

Dempwolf is represented by Carmel Fine Art, Carmel, CA; Vault Gallery, Cambria, CA; Portico Gallery & Frame, Santa Barbara/Montecito, CA; Distinctive Art Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA; and California Art Club, Pasadena, CA.

This story was featured in the November 2016 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art  November 2016 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.