The On-Line Art Gallery of Jon P. Strand

    At the Minneapolis College of Art and Design I studied drawing with Paul Olson.
    Also at MCAD were a scattering of painting and color theory classes, though the teachers of those classes would probably tell you I was largely self-taught.

    I read an interview with a famous musician who commented that, though he went into the recording studio with all the songs written and the musicians all chosen, still he only discovered what the album/CD was *about* in the making of it.
    My situation is the same as that musician's: I almost always start working with the design already there ... but I only seem to discover what the painting is about in the midst of painting.

    I have been told I was a narrative painter, which is fine if they meant no harm. I enjoy stories.
    I would say that my paintings are compositions, some obviously so and others not so obviously so. (Someone asked me where the setting was for a recent large composition, and I had to respond, "Which part of it?")
    There is some symbolism involved, but that does tend to happen.
    It was recently commented to me that there is a relationship between some of my compositions and Literary Impressionism, which I found -and find- fascinating: Joseph Conrad, Ukrainian Impressionism, F. Scott Fitzgerald's "News Of Paris - Fifteen Years Ago," and on and on ... but to the extent that it may be true, it is an accidental parallelism.
    My working methods are improvisational ... I do whatever the idea at hand needs me to do.

    I've exhibited in shows in the Minneapolis / St. Paul area and have had work in juried exhibitions. Also, I've exhibited paintings in commercial galleries.
    In early 2007 I had my first solo art show at Traffic Zone Center for Visual Art in Minneapolis. In March 2008 I had another solo show at Traffic Zone, and in April 2008 I had a solo show in St. Paul. In May 2009 I was part of the annual Traffic Zone Center Spring Open House.
    The Minnesota Orchestra has used my paintings for covers for "Showcase" magazine.
    I have done portrait commissions.
    My work is in corporate and private collections.

    Recently, having spent some months on a large portrait commission (that seemingly became a landscape with seven people), there followed two paintings featuring the wonderful French-Israeli musician, Keren Ann.
    At the moment, I'm painting the best ideas that have piled up inside during the last year, while the ideas for the next two -and maybe three- paintings after that are playing and developing themselves.
    Everything is for a forthcoming solo show.