{"id":28557,"date":"2015-04-06T23:44:01","date_gmt":"2015-04-07T05:44:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/?p=28557"},"modified":"2018-11-05T17:08:46","modified_gmt":"2018-11-05T23:08:46","slug":"randall-lake-then-and-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/randall-lake-then-and-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Randall Lake: Then and Now"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-28557 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail'><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/randall-lake-then-and-now\/2015-03-303\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"290\" height=\"290\" src=\"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/2015-03-303-1-290x290.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/2015-03-303-1-290x290.jpg 290w, https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/2015-03-303-1-120x120.jpg 120w, https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/2015-03-303-1-360x360.jpg 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 290px) 100vw, 290px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/randall-lake-then-and-now\/2015-03-304\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"290\" height=\"290\" src=\"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/2015-03-304-1-290x290.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/2015-03-304-1-290x290.jpg 290w, https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/2015-03-304-1-350x350.jpg 350w, https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/2015-03-304-1-120x120.jpg 120w, https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/2015-03-304-1-360x360.jpg 360w, https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/2015-03-304-1.jpg 506w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 290px) 100vw, 290px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/randall-lake-then-and-now\/2015-03-305\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"290\" height=\"290\" src=\"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/2015-03-305-1-290x290.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/2015-03-305-1-290x290.jpg 290w, https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/2015-03-305-1-120x120.jpg 120w, https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/2015-03-305-1-360x360.jpg 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 290px) 100vw, 290px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/randall-lake-then-and-now\/2015-03-307\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"290\" height=\"290\" src=\"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/2015-03-307-1-290x290.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/2015-03-307-1-290x290.jpg 290w, https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/2015-03-307-1-120x120.jpg 120w, https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/2015-03-307-1-360x360.jpg 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 290px) 100vw, 290px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/randall-lake-then-and-now\/2015-03-30\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"290\" height=\"290\" src=\"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/2015-03-30-1-290x290.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/2015-03-30-1-290x290.jpg 290w, https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/2015-03-30-1-120x120.jpg 120w, https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/2015-03-30-1-360x360.jpg 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 290px) 100vw, 290px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/randall-lake-then-and-now\/2015-03-302\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"290\" height=\"290\" src=\"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/2015-03-302-1-290x290.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/2015-03-302-1-290x290.jpg 290w, https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/2015-03-302-1-120x120.jpg 120w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 290px) 100vw, 290px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>Each time I am lucky enough to chat with Randall Lake I come away more impressed. It\u2019s not just his art, it\u2019s his intellect, his curiosity, his willingness to challenge himself by trying new palettes, new brushstrokes, by reading biographies of artists he admires, and experimenting with their methods. Lake has a show opening at the Guthrie studio (on 200 South) on April 23rd. There you will see work from last October\u2019s visit to Paris, as well as other recent works.<\/p>\n<p>We talked about his 40-plus years of tenancy at the studio, and he commented on the contrast between then and now in his work space and in his work. He started at Guthrie with a 3-room space, all with north light, for $40 a month, which included utilities and parking.\u00a0 His early \u201870s Paris studio on the Rue de Grenelle \u00a0was a stiflingly hot, tiny, former maid\u2019s room, for which he paid more than the Guthrie.<\/p>\n<p>When he got into the Guthrie his co-tenants were painters John Erickson, Sam Collette,Wayne Geary, Richard Murray, and sculptor Peter Kohl. \u201cWe had a lot of fun then\u2014parties on the roof, barbecues, showed movies, had dances on the main floor.\u201d They did portraits of one another, \u201c\u2026 since we had plenty of available models.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And on the subject of his work \u2026\u201dIt\u2019s like I\u2019ve come full circle \u2013 when I started painting in Paris, my heroes were Matisse and Warhol, so I did Pop art, arbitrary colors, etc. Now I am again painting with arbitrary colors, although the subjects have more anatomy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lake\u2019s shifts in style throughout the years have been deliberate. \u201cIf I had to paint the same things in the same style all my life, I would die!\u201d\u00a0 A few years ago he took a night train from Paris to Amsterdam specifically to see all the works at the Van Gogh Museum. He studied the brushstrokes and cross-hatching in paint, and started reading everything he could about Van Gogh, even researching historic events that occurred during his lifetime. He learned that Van Gogh greatly admired another French artist, Adolphe Monticelli, who happened to be represented by Van Gogh\u2019s brother Theo. Of course that prompted Lake to look into Monticelli\u2019s work. \u201cI immediately recognized his influence in Van Gogh\u2019s works.\u201d\u00a0 As with Van Gogh and Monticelli, Lake has a library of books and folders, each with information about and images of artists he\u2019s interested in. His current favorite book about Van Gogh is filled with Post-its, marking points of particular interest to him.<\/p>\n<p>Lake is using the heavy impasto techniques of those two artists, with wonderful results, which you will be seeing later this month. \u201cIt\u2019s not as easy as I thought. Doing impasto is like walking a tightrope without a net.\u00a0You can\u2019t just go back and fix something you\u2019re not satisfied with when you\u2019ve got 10 pounds of paint on the canvas.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/2015-03-301-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-39831\" src=\"http:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/2015-03-301-1-350x467.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"350\" height=\"467\" srcset=\"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/2015-03-301-1-350x467.jpg 350w, https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/2015-03-301-1.jpg 506w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/><\/a>Lake\u2019s successful career began with portraiture in Paris and in Salt Lake City.\u00a0 Lake\u2019s view on portrait-making is that it\u2019s a tough genre. His first commission in Paris was of the two children of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Robert K. Massie, one of whom was a hemophiliac. Massie had written a book about Nicholas II and Alexandra of Hesse, who also had a child with hemophilia. In Salt Lake City, Lake painted Palmer DePaulis, whose portrait is in the Salt Lake County collection, and Val Browning, among many other prominent Utah figures. Many of his portraits come with interesting stories. Val Browning, a well-known art collector, was posed at his home, in front of a painting by a great master. Browning let Lake take the painting back to his studio to finish the portrait. \u201cI was terrified \u2013 what if there was a fire!\u201d\u00a0 Now Lake says he would not do another portrait of anyone, except maybe of a certain Utah political figure he admires. \u201cBut I\u2019d probably do it in a new style.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As Lake puts it, \u201cI only have so many bullets left \u2026\u201d so he intends to continue learning and experimenting as long as he can. There will be more \u201dthens and nows\u201d for sure.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Each time I am lucky enough to chat with Randall Lake I come away more impressed. It\u2019s not just his art, it\u2019s his intellect, his curiosity, his willingness to challenge himself by trying new palettes, new brushstrokes, by reading biographies of artists he admires, and experimenting with their [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1520,"featured_media":28561,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_piecal_is_event":false,"_piecal_start_date":"","_piecal_end_date":"","_piecal_is_allday":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,14],"tags":[2314,455],"class_list":["post-28557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exhibition_reviews","category-visual_arts","tag-guthrie-studios","tag-randall-lake"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/2015-03-3021.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-26 19:54:17","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28557","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1520"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28557"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28557\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39837,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28557\/revisions\/39837"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}