Carylann Loeppky is a figure and portrait oil painter exploring notions of romanticism in historical representations of the female figure. Through contemporary approaches to her medium Loeppky brings her figures into the contemporary moment, maintaining feminine sensibilities while introducing the visual vocabulary of industrial and steam punk. Loeppky’s feminine figures are romantic but fierce. Loeppky studied at Emily Carr University of Art & Design but is primarily a self-taught artist devoted to the study of the old masters, with a particular focus on 16th-18th century French and Italian court painters. She was nominated for Best Album Cover in the Juno Awards and the Westcoast Music Awards, also winning first and second place for Design Awards. She has exhibited nationally and internationally including Montreal, Vancouver, London (UK), Los Angeles, Miami, New York, and Croatia.
Artist Statement
I am a big believer of discovery through experimentation. What can be created is fascinating. I try to keep an element of play and study to all my projects. This fuels me to paint and create in various mediums.
Although my work has an old world feel, physical forms: portraits + figurative; My feminine voice is more predominant.
Inspired by 17th century french court painters and 20th century french surrealists, I draw from classical techniques to bring the canvas to life. My paintings will call to your spirit: spellbound ballerinas, gone girls and decadent queens living on the edge of night, or is it a country lake? What is their story?
My Portraits and Figurative works are contemporary; infused with the romantic mysteries of an earlier age. They arise in me before emerging on the canvas. In the energy I feel their spirit – some innate quality or trace of them. Before I start to paint, they begin as color and emotion, heartache and hope. Music inspires me deeply.
I never think of my figures as fully formed. Who among us is ever complete? Nor do I think of them as isolated rather than self-contained. They inhabit a private realm of their own mystery – a fractured, dreamlike perception of space existing outside of time. In their rough individuality and the potency of their allure, these figures gain a psychic power that is transfixing. They are haunted and haunting, seducers and the seduced.
As a self-taught artist I found my own way to inspiration. The Old Masters introduced an empathy to portraiture that weighs upon me. I’ve been influenced by French figurative work of the 17th and 18th century, such as Fragonard and Boucher, who focused on detail, ornamentation and a playful erotic energy in their paintings. I’m most fascinated by the subversive spirit that runs through Max Ernst, Francis Bacon and now Mark Ryden – artists and provocateurs not afraid to challenge expectations.
