Bio

Portrait Photograph of Randall Stoltzfus standing in front of his painting Omega

Randall Stoltzfus is a painter who lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. His 16th solo show, Widening, opened at Blank Space in New York City in the fall of 2019. He was awarded fellowships by the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and the Constance Saltonstall Foundation in 2004, and has been artist in residence at the Ucross Foundation in 2004, the Millay Colony in 2000, and at an active psychiatric hospital in Perugia, Italy in 1997. His work is in public collections including the Centro Pari Opportunitá (Palazzo Penna, Perugia, Italy), Alliance Bernstein (New York, NY), and the DC Council on the Arts and Humanities (Washington, DC), as well as numerous private collections.


How do you pronounce Stoltzfus?

It’s easy:  [ STOLTS – foos ]


In his own words

Each of us — whether we realize it or not — is surrounded by our own light, which, in turn, is contributing to a collective light so vast, it’s easily overlooked.

We’re all a part of something bigger. Each of us — whether we realize it or not — is surrounded by our own light, which, in turn, is contributing to a collective light so vast, it’s easily overlooked.

This phenomenon of light — and this cooperation in creating it — are the subjects of my art. My language is hand-painted circles. Multitudes of circles that slowly build into subtle abstract forms and otherworldly landscapes. No two circles are the same. They differ in color, texture, size, and the idiosyncrasies of rendering. Sometimes, gold-leaf adds yet another dimension of radiance. Layers of circles on circles — visible or hidden — reveal something greater than their sum. They coalesce to make the unseen seen. Even to me.

The intrinsic cooperation of the natural world has always been my inspiration. In these times, when we seem to be losing sight of ourselves as a collective, as something greater, my art is especially motivated by a sense of personal responsibility.


This video interview with iHeartArtists.com was recorded at the opening reception for “Sequence” at Blank Space in Chelsea, October 7, 2010.

Read the Transcript


What others are saying

These glimmering works — some actually made with gold and palladium leaf — represent the modernist tradition. Indeed, like Kandinsky and Rothko before him, Stoltzfus seeks to represent, through form and color, the immaterial essence of pure spirit.

Patricia Briggs, The Chautauquan Daily

Randall Stoltzfus is an unlikely man — a pastoralist living in the biggest city in the world, a devotee of nature whose devotion compels him to take nature apart and rebuild it, so that we might see its spirit

A Story about a Painter and a Kitten by Daniel Janoff

Randall Stoltzfus is a young painter who has already accomplished a great deal by learning the lessons of the history of art and bringing them up to date in subtle and luminous paintings of visionary landscapes. He is not afraid of the hard work required to create his sophisticated, painstakingly detailed, labor-intensive paintings. His work recalls the romantic mood of the American masters George Inness and Albert Pinkham Ryder, an artist who also inspired Jackson Pollock’s early works.

Essay by Barbara Rose on solo exhibit at Osuna Gallery

Press

Delightfully Challenging

View of the exhibition Next Chapter at Chautauqua Institute

The rich blue and gold of Stoltzfus’ large, painted abstractions draw viewers into the gallery. These glimmering works — some actually…

Playing with Light

Playing with light SMMirror 3 25 16

Each close look at the work of Randall Stoltzfus, who calls himself, “a landscape painter with a little obsession with circles,”…

Going in Circles

SMDP logo 300x128

His meditative, repetitive circular patterns are hand painted in oils, adding layers of gold leaf and other materials until the surfaces…

Preternatural

Screenshot of meatpacking-district.com website showing press release for Randall Stoltzfus CLEARING at BlankSpace 2022 10 26 15

Meatpacking-District.com featured my 2015 solo exhibit “Clearing” at Blank Space Gallery. The post included a reproduction of the painting Crown. You…

Shimmering Work

Stoltzfus mixes picturesque landscape that he remembers from childhood with the high contrast glare and grit of his current home, Brooklyn….

iHeartArtists.com Interview

Randall Stoltzfus I heart interview

This video interview with iHeartArtists.com was recorded at the October 7, 2010 opening reception for “Sequence” at Blank Space in Chelsea.

Vernissage.tv

Bouloukos Stoltzfus Interview

This interview with Theodore Bouloukos on Vernissage.tv was filmed at the November 2008-January 2009 exhibit “The Magic Hour” at Paul Rodgers/9W…

Points of Light

The successive textures produce a shimmering, luminous quality, achieved by mixing powdered glass, iridescent pigment and hints of gold leaf. “The…

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