Interview
Ronald Katz
Ronald Katz was born in South Africa to parent emigrees from Germany. His first ten years were spent there. Upon arriving in New York City, he attended public schools, then Queens College, obtaining a BA with a major in mathematics and minors in physics and art. At Queens College, he studied watercolor with Barse Miller, drawing with Elias Friedensohn, and color and oil painting with John Ferren, and various art history courses Later, he attended workshops in traditional fresco, producing a number of small frescos. Ronald Katz’s work is diverse, encompassing a range of imagery, including still life, landscape, figuration and abstraction. His inspiration emanates from emotional and aesthetic response and personal associations regarding the variety of subjects that intrigue him. Close scrutiny and increased familiarity of the works should enable the viewer to identify key themes regarding subject matter, including nature and the environment, music, science, as well as reference to antiquity and art history, and from small intimate still life to large complex canvasses. In certain works, Ronald Katz presents a visual narrative, often involving dramatic juxtapositions of seemingly disparate imagery, ultimately resolved to a unified visual symphony.
What is your background and how did you start your journey in the art world?
“I have always been an artist, painting and drawing. Nevertheless, I also have a background in science and mathematics, and also in classical music. After high school, I attended Queens College, majoring in mathematics with a minor in art. Additionally, I attended various art schools including the Art Students League, Pels Art school, the School of visual Arts, and Parsons and Pratt Graphics Center, the last three especially for printmaking, lithography and etching. Additionally, I worked collaboratively with Sheila Marbain doing silk-monotypes for several years.”
What inspires you?
“I have numerous sources of inspiration in my work; great works from art history, including classical Greek and Roman art, Indian miniature paining, and the great Dutch 17th Century works and into the later great work for French art a well as the moderns in Europe and America, the natural world of landscape, geology, animals, plants, fruit, shells, etc.”
What themes do you pursue? Is there an underlying message in your work?
“Being a diverse artist, a number of themes occur in my work; interpretations and reference from classical antiquity, groups of still life paintings, groups of paintings of land and seascapes, especially a series of rocky Maine Coastal studies, and then more complex works such as the series of Lost And Found paintings which deal with multiple issues such as lost and destroyed art, threatened and endangered species, and other related works, also including work regarding human evolution (one of my science-oriented themes).”
“I have always been an artist, painting and drawing.”
What is your creative process like?
“This too varies; in the case of plein-air landscape, it is a simple response to nature, whereas with still life, there may be a more deliberative structural approach. With the complex larger works, there usually is an initial concept visualized internally, and then the work proceeds to develop with modifications as needed till resolution is achieved, all of which takes place over a considerable time period, perhaps over many months or even years.”
Have you had any noteworthy exhibitions you'd like to share?
“Some of my noteworthy exhibitions are: the major Vermeer exhibition in Washington several years ago; a major Gauguin exhibit in the late 1950’s; the recent Michelangelo exhibit at the Met Museum, Matisse cut outs at Moma, Picasso Museum in Paris, and the Dali museum in St. Petersburg, Florica. Then, as always, the wonderful Greek and Roman and Egyptian works at the Met Museumm and the Egyptian collection at the Brooklyn Museum.”
Website: www.ronaldkatz.com
Instagram: @katz.ronald
