⾺爾科姆‧⾥普吉 Malcolm Liepke 美國 b.1953
成長於明尼亞波利斯(美國明尼蘇達州最大城市,又稱湖泊之城)Malcolm Liepke是一位以畫女性肖像畫為主的畫家,特別像是那種會出現在艷麗的舞台、電影、或是時尚圈的女性。這些女性諳練於表演藝術或是自我投射,習慣被注視與回顧觀者的視線,有時甚至會投以傲慢或是無辜挑逗式的目光。
她們被藝術性地構成,巧妙地安排,演繹著一個角色。藝術家則展現出他掌握油畫的威勢,以他一貫的厚彩表現出蒼白肌膚上濃密的粉嫩色調。他處理肌肉線條所表現的鬆動,清楚地吸引到我們的注意力,以狂野的桔黃色描述頭髮和皮毛的紋理,這些畫面之間的對比,強化了觸覺的刺激和各式各樣的主題。
他很擅長使用顏色,讓人回想到十九世紀末的法國繪畫調色盤,策略性地使用橙色、藍色、淡紫色和粉紅色等電子色調對比模特兒嬌嫩的皮膚,增添加另一種層面的感官刺激。
他能流暢並熟練地掌握他所選擇的媒介,則是他長時間精於研究的結果。在他的作品中,構圖、光線、模特兒的姿勢,有些是參考或是回應,如約翰·辛格·薩金特(Sargent)、詹姆斯·惠斯勒(Whistler)、竇加(Degas)、亨利·德·土魯斯-羅特列克(Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec)的作品,都是在他有條不紊的掌控之中。
這些歷史典故暗示著她們和他相對應的主題,這些人物存在於當代的“放蕩人生”(demi-monde)之中,有些現代版的“紅磨坊”,有些現代版的“女神遊樂廳”(Folies-Bergères)。他所選擇的主題與繪畫的方式,結合了情色戲碼的暗示,與對女性特定吸引力模式的研究,以及一種開誠佈公的讚賞。
其作品被布魯克林博物館、美國國家設計學院、史密森尼美國藝術博物館、時代週刊、新聞雜誌、富比士雜誌、財富雜誌、AT&T、哥倫比亞廣播公司、ABC電視台、大西洋唱片、DKNY、Ralph Lauren、美孚石油等多家博物館與企業收藏。
Malcolm Liepke was born in 1953 and raised in Minneapolis. ML is a painter primarily of women, especially of a certain kind, who appear to be glamorous inhabitants of the film, stage and fashion world. Versed in the art of performance and self-projection, they are used to being looked at and return the viewers’ gaze sometimes provocatively, with insolence or innocently. We see them artfully posed, complicit in their arrangement, acting out a role. ML demonstrates a bravura handling of oil paint, its rich consistency describing creamy tones of pink and pale skin. The expressive looseness of the handling articulates the flesh and demands our attention. Wilder, spikier handling describes the texture of hair and fur. This contrast between surfaces highlights the tactile excitement and variety of the subject.
He uses colour skilfully, with a palette reminiscent of’ fin-de-siècle’ French painting, strategically deploying electric hues of orange, blue, lilac and pink against the delicate skin tones of the models. This adds another level of sensory excitement. ML’s fluent and accomplished mastery of his chosen medium is the product of long and well informed study. There are references to, and echoes of, Sargent, Whistler, Degas, and Lautrec in his compositions, lighting, the models’ poses and, particularly, in the swagger and pace of his handling.
These historical allusions suggest some correspondence between their subjects and his, and that these characters inhabit something of a contemporary ‘demi-monde’, some modern-day version of the ‘Moulin Rouge’ or the ‘Bar at the Folies-Bergères’. His choice of subject and the painterly treatment he applies to it combine to hint at a possible erotic drama. It is a study of a particular mode of feminine attraction and a frank appreciation of it.