Gary Kapp was born in Ogden, Utah in 1942. When he was four his father bought a ranch in Oregon where he was raised until he left for college. He graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in art in 1966. He continued graduate work in the evenings and spent one summer studying with Kenneth Riley.

After completing his studies he went to work for a motion picture studio where he spent nearly ten years illustrating film strips, visualizing movies, and painting backdrops.He had an intense interest in fine art and painted every spare moment until 1976 when he left commercial work and began to paint full time. Having spent his formative years on a ranch, it soon became evident that his favorite subjects were Western.