Malcolm T. Liepke was born October 31st, 1953, in Minnesota. He studied at the Art Center College of Design, but dropped out after a year and a half. He moved to New York and studied on his own on artists such as John Sargent, Edgar Degas, Edouard Vuillard and many more – to help his practice.

Before turning to fine art in the mid-1980s, Liepke worked as an illustrator.

If returning to a painting, Liepke lays a glaze of linseed oil, poppyseed oil and clove oil over the colour. He refers to this process as ‘wet-in-wet’ and builds on flesh tones anf refines the face and hands. Working on a wet canvas is critical to Liepke’s portraiture, alike John Sargent.

I like Liepke’s work because he creates different moods and emotions with his brush technique and colour. In addition, people connect to his art by the way he conveys the paintings.