PHIL EPP

About this artist

Phil Epp was born in York, Nebraska, in 1946 and raised in rural Nebraska
on a crop/cattle farm. Phil says he is strongly imprinted into the open
spaces of the Great Plains where he was born and has spent most of his
life. His paintings reflect this celebration of open sky and landscape, with a
hint of human occupation, and he strives to incorporate timeless universal
icons into the landscape.

A recent trip to the Kazakh Steppe in Central Asia reinforced his efforts at
a universal dialogue of the sparsely inhabited visual environments. He
says his recent works attempt to place emphasis on content and subject
over technique and medium, to better communicate with the viewer.

Phil was awarded the Kansas Governor’s Artist award in 1985. His
paintings have been shown at galleries in New Mexico, Chicago, Kansas
City and New York. Numerous monumental public works have been
awarded honors, including 8 wonders of Kansas Art in 2009 and Water
Tower of the Year in 2010. In 2009, Phil was selected as a U.S. cultural
ambassador to Kazakhstan with the U.S.
Department of State’s Art in Embassies program. His work has been
displayed in American Embassies in Latvia, Africa and Fiji. In 2010, he
received the Best of Show award at the Panhandle Plains Invitational in
Canyon, Texas.

Phil recently completed three large paintings for Arrowhead Stadium,
home of the Kansas City Chiefs. His induction into the Cowboy Artists of
America is a monumental yet humbling honor and challenge. The wide-
open spaces and the horses, cowboys, Native Americans and prairie
creatures that inhabit this empty landscape have been a lifelong passion.
Epp’s studio is based in Kansas, and he continues to travel, photograph
and paint wide-open western vistas.