Ran Ortner (1959 - ) was born in in San Francisco and raised in rural Alaska. He is known for his large-scale paintings of foaming waves and capturing the turbulent movement of opalescent sea water depicting the memories and experiences Ortner has accumulated through decades of surfing.
In 1990, Ortner moved to Brooklyn and spent two decades working in solitude and creating a minimalist ‘language’
"In 2005 Ortner began to confront his life long intoxication with the ocean. Influenced by the emotional complexity of great old master paintings, Ortner began to explore a particular kind of intensity realized through the layering of oil paint. Through this process Ortner holds both the muscular immediacy and the delicacy he experiences in the ocean."
"The ocean mirrors the tempo of my body, the beating of my heart, the in and out of my breath. Waves like a metronome mark the present, each insisting: Now. In the ocean I am immersed in now. Yet in the ancient body of the sea I feel the root of time. In the pulsing surge I feel the wild place of my wilderness beginnings. There is no totem to the irrational more potent. Nothing points to the stirrings of my unconscious more than what lies below the surface. No peril feels more ominous. Yet the sea is where I bathe my wounds, where I get lost in all that is luxuriously infinite. Nothing is more symphonic, more effervescent, more delicately complete than the endless sea." (via website)
For more about the artist visit his website or his Facebook page
