Gapka generously sent me a large assortment of their oils to try. I’ve used their paints daily in order to write a fair review.
Gapka is following a clever strategy. They make single-pigment paints aimed at professionals, as well as others for weekend warriors and hobbyists, such as their neon pink paint.
In this photo of my palette, you can see some of their paints: pyrrole red, venetian red, yellow ochre, chromium green oxide, prussian blue, and neon yellow. The neon yellow is the runny yellow paint in the top row.
For a new manufacturer, their paint tubes are solid and better than those of their close competitor, RGH. The messiness of some of my tubes, shown here, is not a negative. If, as they claim, their paints contain no fillers, you expect to see something like this tube of transparent red oxide. Pigments differ in how well they combine with the binder. The runny neon yellow on my palette is an example of a pigment that is poorly combined with the linseed oil.
The neon yellow is the only dud in my paint assortment. The rest are full-bodied and well behaved. Gapka uses refined linseed oil, which is a plus. I prefer linseed to other oils. The term ‘refined’ is ambiguous, but their paints mix well with my medium and handle crisply.
In the photo of the paints they sent to me, many of the tubes display the pigment used, including several that use multiple pigments. This is what I expect for professional-level paints. Others, those I assume are aimed at the hobbyist, don’t display the pigments they contain. The outlier is cadmium yellow medium. For professional-grade paint, I’d expect to see the pigment employed. Most manufacturers who fudge this expensive paint might label it something like cadmium yellow medium hue, or some such. Because this tube is the only one with hand labeling, I assume it’s from an early production run.
Gapka makes solid professional-level paint. Combined with terrific pricing, I can easily recommend them. On the negative side, while I can ignore their neon boutique extravaganza, their lack of lead white is a serious failing. Having said that, I will buy their paint. I like their Prussian blue, chromium green oxide, pyrrole red, and mauve umber. I really like the last-named.
Rating:
Quality: C+
Price: A+
I’ve updated my Oil Paint Brand Ratings with Gapka’s rating.
