Winter Sky
oil on canvas
40 x 60 inches
2018
$10,000
Exhibited at the Burchfield Penney Art Center through July 29, 2018
Available from the artist
The Burchfield Penney Art Center feature exhibition, Time Travel in the Burchfield Archives: Paintings by Philip Koch, showcases Winter Sky and other paintings and drawings. Each work was created while Koch (pronounced like “watch”) served as the museum’s Artist in Residence from 2015–18. The exhibit continues through July 29, 2018.
An added special feature of the exhibit is drawings by the artist Charles Burchfield Koch selected from the museum’s archives to hang alongside his own work in the show. “For me,” says Koch “making drawings is at the heart of my painting process. As I studied Burchfield’s methods I discovered how much he relied on his drawings to sharpen his own imaginative vision. Including them in my exhibition seemed a perfect fit.”
Originally Koch was an abstract artist but was inspired by the paintings of Hopper to change direction and begin working as a realist artist. This year Koch will enjoy his 17th residency in Edward Hopper’s Truro, MA studio.
In reflecting on the very beginning of his career as a successful, sought-after artist, Koch admits, “It was the aroma of oil paint that changed my path. My freshman year at Oberlin College I was in the college’s art building for a required art history class. I caught a whiff of a strange smell coming from behind an unmarked door. Upon opening the door I discovered a world I had never seen before: a studio filled with easels and wet oil paintings. I knew in a moment it was where I was meant to be.”
Koch’s paintings are in the permanent collections of 16 American art museums, among them Memorial Art Gallery (Rochester, NY), Butler Institute of American Art, Cape Cod Museum of Art,, Minnesota Museum of American Art, Swope Art Museum and Cedar Rapids Museum of Art.
Explore the current Burchfield Penney Art Center Time Travel in the Burchfield Archives: Paintings by Philip Koch.
Also view more of Koch’s work on his website, as well as follow him on Facebook and read his blog.
Philip can be contacted at [email protected]
