Philip Koch working on Mt. Desert Island, Maine, June 2023

What is the Source for my Landscapes?

I am recently back from Mount Desert Island in Maine, where years ago my wife and I honeymooned. A special place and a very special time.

The point of art I think is to cast a little spell over the viewer. To make a change in their feelings. The images held in our memory are like a mist that surrounds us. They are rich in our past emotions. That's why my paintings are always a conversation between the here and now and mental images that still echo.

Brief Bio:

Koch (sounds like "watch") is well known for his colorful, panoramic landscapes. Less known is that he was originally an abstract artist. A pivotal event for him was seeing the work of Edward Hopper. It inspired him early in his career to change to painting in a realist direction. Koch has been given unprecedented access to Hopper’s studio on Cape Cod, enjoying 17 residencies there since 1983, an honor granted to no other living American artist.

Eighteen American art museums hold Koch’s work in their permanent collections. He has had his work featured in seventeen solo museum exhibitions. He is an emeritus professor at the Maryland Institute College of Art. Koch’s grandfather, John Capstaff, was the inventor of the original Kodachrome color film process. He is the great grandson of the Scottish landscape painter John Wallace (1841-1905).