Early in his career, Philip Koch was inspired by seeing Edward Hopper’s art to change from painting abstractions to working in a realist direction. Since 1983 he has had 15 residencies staying and working in Hopper’s Truro, MA studio. He is known both for his vividly colored landscape paintings and for his paintings of the interior of Hopper’s studio. Despite being the grandson of the inventor of Kodachrome film, Koch never uses photography to make his paintings. He believes relying on direct observation and memory give his work a deeper emotional resonance. Koch’s art is represented in the Permanent Collections of 15 American art museums. He is a senior professor at the Maryland Institute College of Art.

Koch’s slide talk at the Cape Cod Museum of Art will show photos of Hopper’s Truro studio and will examine the impact Cape Cod had on Hopper’s art. He will address why Hopper’s art has become central imagery of how American’s define their identity. Koch will also show examples of his own painting done on the Cape over the last three decades.