Philip Koch

Philip Koch Ascension
Oil on panel, 40 X 32″, 2008

Philip Koch, a noted landscape painter and teacher, addresses the issue of landscape painting and the environment when in his artist statement he says; “In our time with its ecological degradation, the symbolic value of this Eden seems at once more remote and yet more urgently needed. Wilderness and the meeting of the land and the seas are among the most deeply buried chapters of our common origins. They are portraits of an all but forgotten part of ourselves. These paintings are a tool, a bit of practical magic to help the us reconnect with our natures and our deeper resources.”

Philip Koch in this podcast talks about his paints plein air landscape work where he talks, in part, about how he uses all his senses, ie. perceptual painting, when outdoors responding to nature. Perhaps it is this connection with nature that often gives perceptual painters a strong bond with the earth’s ecology – not just responding to one aspect of nature but taking it all in and then transcribing their finding with their particular handwriting.

Philip Koch Deer Isle, oil on panel
36 x 72”, 2008

It’s interesting to note that Koch has been given twelve residencies in Edward Hopper’s former painting studio in S.Truro, MA since 1983. You can see some interesting photos of Hopper’s studio and comments on Philip Koch’s website. He says about Hopper, “… Hopper showed me how imagination can flourish in a realist package.”

He shows at the George Billis Gallery in Chelsea Mr. Koch is also having a museum tour of his work; Unbroken Thread: Nature Painting and the American Imagination. The Art of
Philip Koch, Cape Cod Museum of Art, Dennis, MA – June 20 – August 16, 2009

Here is a video studio interview with Philip Koch