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UPCOMING SHOWUp to 30 warks on sltow

July 23-August 6, 2009Arcadia Gallery51 Greene StreetNewYorh NY 10013

{2r2) 965-t387

About face

MalcoLM LIrpru

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what needed to go."I r.vanted to do it for a long time," says Liepke.

"I felt kind ofbound by the narrative tradition and had

explored everything eIse. I didn't really have anythingelse to say and wanted to simpli$, and rvinnow down mystatement to what was mv strongest strit anyr,val'."

So, after thinking about rvhat attracted so manycollectors to his work thror,rghout his long career, Liepke

made a decision."It was the emotionaliry of the rvork, the connection

to the people who rvere painted and the faces," says

Liepke. "So, I decided to simpli$'the background and

just get rid of all that other stuff behind it. My work is

about the connection rvith the people I paint."Along with the background details, Liepke also

wanted to lose the narrative context of the u'ork."I wanted to go with something I felt u'irs the essence

of my work anl'way,!' says Liepke. "I rvanted to abandon

the narlative statement and look just at the 6gures. '

Liepke's nerv exhibition is groundbreaking for the

artist. He has completed over 30 paintings-ranging insize from 4-by-4 feet to 10-by-12 inches-all of rvhich

are highly cropped images of heads and faces.

"I've never done strictly a head kind of show," says

Liepke. "I thought that itrvould be a novel idea to explore.

I started to do the large canvases and that allowed me to

get into a statement that rvas a lot more por,verful. Before,

I was doing mainly' 8-bv-1O-inch paintings. But the big

ones combine a lot of blorving up and cropping withextreme close-ups. I'm enjoying it and further honing inon things thtrt are fun to play with-different formats

with heads and frames and that sort of thing."Liepke is also finding that a rvhole universe is available

once you get dori'n to tl.re finer elements of a painting.'As the microscope focuses ar-rd gets in cioser and

closer, you hnd a u4-role u,ork in there," says Liepke."Further exploratior.r of this subiect matter rvill includemen, worrren, kids, old \\,omen, and multiple heads on

one canvas. It's faces and l-reads, but rvithin that frarner'vork

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there is a rvide virrietl, of thir.rgs I)r-r exploring."For Liepke, though, it all cornes dorvn to beins able

to edit all unnecessary material out of the paintings."Just right dorvn to tl.re bare essentials," says Liepke.

"I just rvant to get the look, the gesture, the eye contact

that rvill glab you. \When you zoor.n in like I'm doing,

it has to be sornething that garners one's attention, like

the faces, the look, head gestures. In the past, I rvas able

to say things with body gestures tl.rat were porverful or

interactions with a couple of figures that rvas telling."Liepke titled this neu, exhibition Abont Face

because, for him, that is rvhere these nerv paintinqs

begin and end."You can realll, s2y a lot about someone by tl-reir

attitude, their look," says Liepke. "I think rn hat is it about

this persor.r that is grabbing n.re? Is it their gaze? The shape

of their hair? They,wa).their head is tilted? So, I sharpen

my observation because when you are doing a (4-by-4-

foot) head, tl.rere realll. has to be something in tliere that

is pretry intense and ri.ill grab peoplet interest." e

For a lirett lirk to tbeexhibiting gallerl go to

9$

Price Range IndicatorOur at-*glance Price Range Indicator sltous what you

cl1il ex?ect t0 plry for this artist\ worh.

Small Medrum large

2009 $6,000-510,000 $20,000 $40,000