ABOUT THE ARTISTS

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Rand's paintings are a variety of contemporary compositions and abstract landscapes inspired by nature and influenced by everyday textures, old weathered surfaces, graphic symbols, typography, color contrast and patterns. His goal is to create a visual story that contains bold marks, subtle details, richness of texture and unique imagery – with the hope of creating a compelling piece that is enjoyed by the viewer while evoking a sense of calmness, beauty, ambiguity and playfulness. His physical approach is a combination of controlled intention and spontaneous experimentation. It begins by applying multiple layers of mixed-media material, and intuitively brushing, scraping and sanding to reveal textural subtlety, unexpected color and depth. He can paint over what is there and then scrape to reveal previous layers, but the intentional and the unintentional remain. The free-flow process is ever-evolving and leads to an undefined place, one that lies between idea, experimentation and execution. His works are comprised of acrylics, oil paint, charcoal pencil, dry pigments, pastels, powdered marble, paper and cold-wax medium. The process evolves from a gradual build-up of glazing layers of paint, collage elements and incised textures. Rand was born in Maryland and lived and worked in Northern Virginia for many years before settling in Asheville, North Carolina in 2017. His work can be found in public and private collections throughout US and Internationally.

Mark blends traditional and contemporary approaches to painting in his landscapes - fruit of twenty years of evolution as a professional artist-reflecting his unconventional background and adventurous life story.  Born in Germany, the son of an art historian Mark received a classical education, studying icon painting at the National Academy of Fine Arts in the Slovak Republic. Mark later moved to the US, where he continued to study painting and received an MFA from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.  During his years of travel throughout Mexico, Belize and Guatemala the meticulous layers of oil paints possible in the studio gave way to quick washes of more portable watercolors.  This directness later translated back into oil paintings executed ‘a la prima’, equally suited for capturing the fleeting effects of light and to painting on location on beaches, jungles, archeological sites, vibrant colonial towns and more recently in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The Mayan Highlands of southern Mexico, where Mark met his wife, lived for 8 years, taught art at the University of Chiapas, had a lasting impact on his approach.  The bright southern light, brilliant color of traditional dress and architecture emboldened his palette and compositions, which aim to distill an abstract beauty from the observation of nature.