Randall Lake

Randall Lake is a painter of twentieth-century subject and nineteenth-century technique. He writes: “My paintings are painted from life. I dislike working from photographs because the photographic image is so static and unchanging that one ends up copying the ma￾terial rather than interpreting. There is nothing like painting on loca￾tion for that chemistry bred of urgency, of wanting to get it right, of struggling to capture the momentary, and of having to discern what is essential and what is not.” Born in Long Beach and raised in Southern California, Lake grad￾uated from the University of Colorado. He spent the next four years studying art in Paris, France, at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux Arts and at Atelier 17. Returning to Utah, where he lives today, he studied with Alvin Gittins, received his masters in painting and “that wonderful old training that’s so hard to come by.” “A recent review referred to my work as ‘purebred conservatism,’ ” Lake says, “probably because I do not try to transform reality but rather represent life with a fidelity that makes most moderns uncom￾fortable. I may not always continue to paint so realistically, but I believe that artistic freedom begins with a mastery of the fundamen￾tals and a thorough knowledge of traditional painting.” Randall travels extensively every year, trying to capture on canvas the essence of life. Every year is a pilgrimage to the continent, Cali￾fornia, central Utah and a studio full of props and figures, and at least one new adventure. “Part of being educated is using the wealth of knowledge that has gone on before you.” This Randall has done by applying his craft to the world he sees. If art is a way of life, then Randall’s actual handling of paint goes to demonstrate his view.