In the beginning Painting

RANDI STRAND - Artist statement My work focuses on the psychological states attained by being lost in the aesthetics of poetry, music and other creative mediums. The lyrical nature of the work lends itself to aspects of illustration and design mingled with the scale, techniques and studio practices of fine art making. I capture dream like impressions and introspective moments from life that, when interpreted in my painting, make for a slightly abstracted representation of the world around me. The compositions employ traditional elements of painting concerned with composition, light and dark, color and form yet depart from representational painting with elements of text and unusual color shifts. A collage of images emerges in the work, placing the viewer in a very personal vantage point of my subject matter. Ethereal states frozen in each piece capture states of mind that are beautifully unresolved. BIOGRAPHY Randi Strand is an Norwegian artist and she was born and raised in a small town in Valdres with only a few hundreds of souls. Strand has done a number of exhibitions, she is represented by several professional galleries and has a large audience. Strand works with photography, digital artwork, collage, acrylic paint, oil painting, mixed media and lithography. She experiments with different techniques, which together becomes her personal expression. I've had a number of exhibitions, is represented by several professional galleries and has a large audience. I work with photography, photoshop, collage, acrylic paint, oil crayon, mixed media and lithography. I am experimenting with different techniques that together are my own expression. The themes in the images revolve around the urban hustle and bustle of the big city, where I observe people coming and going - people on their way to work, people who have bad times, lonely people, on the subway, people on a street corner in Harlem or in a café East Village. All along its own unique history. There is something magical about capturing people at the moment. Something that should have been temporarily frozen in time and becomes permanent, an echo of the moment. I work with photography as a background for pictures. After I work in photoshop and paint with oil or acrylic on canvas. Texts in melodies are also used to enhance the story. I ask the viewer to not only look at the pictures - but to listen to them too ... what they say ... and what they are not.