Ep 34 with Carl Randall: Artist

01-03-2021 • 1 hr 6 mins

Artist

You can also watch this episode on Youtube where English, Italian and Spanish subtitles are available or visit the Metralla Rosa website for more details.

Carl Randall is an artist who dedicated an important part of his adult life to the practical and theoretical study of the arts, graduating from temples of academia such as the Slade School of Fine Arts and Tokyo University of the Arts, to name but a few and, in doing so, succeeded in developing an exceptionally personal voice which combines his fascination for urban spaces with his interest in those who inhabit them. His paintings usually depict people and places, passersby and locations, all intersecting without merging in a strikingly whimsical way. His ultra-detailed depictions of the world around him are brought to life with a genuine modesty, while the reality he describes with such a clear narrative intention is overwhelmed by his personal and unpredictable creativity.

Within his large canvases both subject and object are presented with equal prominence and with the same luxurious detail, capturing the attention of his viewers in an almost hypnotic way. His scenes of everyday life present urban ecosystems with playful perspectives and oblique, divergent dynamics in which human beings and inanimate objects coexist with a certain detached nature, as if their respective universes were destined to remain oblivious of each other, never to meet.

Ten years of living and studying in Japan gave Carl the opportunity to delve deeply into his role as an observer of reality and student of life, cultivating his passion for environments in which life flows in multiple directions simultaneously, creating scintillating and exhilarating visual stimuli. Both London and Japan have allowed his work to respond to the realities of overpopulation, ostracism and alienation present in the daily lives of strangers within these great metropolises.

Full-time artist, part-time art tutor and winner of awards such as The Nomura Art Prize, the Sunday Times Prize for Watercolours and the prestigious BP Travel Award in conjunction with the National Portrait Gallery, amongst others, Carl is an ambitious painter with an enviable CV. And in this interview we managed to delve into his stylistic visions with a delightful dose of refreshing honesty, seasoned with some unexpected twists and turns which we hope you enjoy when you watch this episode of Metralla Rosa.