Art & Framing Solutions - Featured Artist

Loran Speck

California born artist Loran Speck draws the inspiration for his still life paintings from the realist artists of the Renaissance such as Caravaggio, Rembrandt and Rubens. With his brilliant use of light and color as well as incredible detail, Speck creates images that look as if you could reach into the painting and take out the objects. Speck's attention to the relationship and variety of shapes and textures, truly the essence of still-life painting, delights viewers with the subtle differences in a grouping of plums and peaches, as well as the illusion of polished clay, reflective glass and dimpled lemon rinds. The seeming reality of such objects, especially when depicted at life size, is what is known as trompe l'oeil (or "fool the eye") realism, a technique of which he is an undisputed master.

Arch with a view

Jugs on a ledge

Speck is dedicated to the principles of classical still life, setting up his arrangements in a shallow space, thereby challenging his own skills to convey the three-dimensionality of fruit and vegetables, urns, bottles and pots. Just as important is Speck's use of light. Dramatic, often theatrical, lighting helps convey form, as in the highlights bouncing off an onionskin contrasted against the darkened chiaroscuro shadows behind it. However, Speck's work is not all perfection. Indeed, he often suggests the concept of mortality through imperfection. For Speck, the cycle of life to death is conveyed in an overripe tomato, still bearing its dried stem, yet marked by spots of decay.

Italian still life with green grapes

Moroccan pottery with pears

Loran Speck has been showing his art work in his Northern California studio gallery for over 25 years. He creates the paintings that demonstrate the dignity and classical elegance for which he has become so well known. Speck has been honored with feature articles and covers in many of today's major art magazines. Most notable are USArt, American Artist, Art of the West and Southwest Art. Speck participates in many events and exhibitions with the Altermann and Morris Galleries in Dallas, Houston, Santa Fe and Hilton Head Island.