Lifting The Veil: The Art of Dan Klepper

All artists serve a master, a purpose greater than themselves. Some artists owe their allegiance to a school of painting, the principles of an aesthetic manifesto, or the freedom of self-expression.

For Dan Klepper, the artist is bound by one simple creed: strict fidelity to the subject before him. And this fidelity is not a mere faithfulness to form, capturing the subject physically, as most portraits do, in a representational pose. What Klepper creates is not simply a picture but a lens that peers beyond the apparent to the wonder and the mystery of each person.

This is a painting that gives expression not to the artist’s soul but to the essence of the subject itself. It is a study not in form, nor an exhibition of color and technique, but a distillation of the human spirit within the confines of the canvas. His is a kind of narrative art. Take one moment and capture a lifetime. Find one telling gesture and portray a person’s spirit. Color, harmony, design, and the skillful use of composition and light, honed by 35 years of experience as a professional photographer, are all wielded to this one end.

For Klepper, art is a mode of lifting the veil. The ordinary and the everyday are revealed. What had only been intimated is now fully formed. For a moment, we are thankful to see perhaps, under the eye of eternity, what the Maker has made.