Biography and Statement

Background and education:

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. A lifelong artist, he attended various art schools as well, beginning with Albert Pels Art School during his teen years, followed by the Art Students League, and later the School for Visual arts, printmaking at Pratt Graphics Center, and Parsons/The New School. 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.

The work

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.

Clear examples of this are THE ART CLASS, FIGURE COMPOSITION (with horseshoe crab and red knot). and the entire series, LOST AND FOUND, among others. Primarily a representational artist, concern with abstraction of form and color is a constant; at times he has worked in pure abstraction, as for example in the large painting NIGHT AND DAY, as well as GREY ABSTRACTION and the PALETTE PAINTINGS.

Technical mastery in a traditional, and classical sense involving appropriate application of materials while maximizing expressivity and emotion is fundamental in his work. Additionally, as an aficionado of classical music, synesthesia of the visual with music can prevail. Frequently, the need to resolve an image may require numerous revisions. Sorting layers and arrays of ideas, varying forms, shapes, colors and textures, Ronald Katz aims to intensify and clarify meaning.

In addition to his primary focus on painting, Ronald Katz has also been a dedicated printmaker, initially in lithography, and then etching with John Ross and Mohamed Khalil. Later, collaborating with the late Sheila Marbain he produced an extensive group of silk-monotypes, perhaps a lesser known process of unique works on paper. Recently he has ventured into digital printmaking, working with Andre Ribuoli, enabling an extension of his work in other media. Much of this may be viewed on his website, www.ronaldkatz.com., and on Instagram as katz.ronald.

Ronald Katz remains devoted and challenged in conceiving next project, the next painting, the next etching.