Walter Rane is a prolific painter and illustrator. He currently has a show at the Rehs Gallery at 5 East 57th St. in New York City until November 18. The LDS Church owns 90 of Rane’s paintings and they are found in visitor centers, buildings, and across Church-related materials and websites. He once explained, “Instead of wanting to be like other illustrators, I’ve always wanted to paint like Rubens, Rembrandt and Michelangelo. Not that I could ever approach them, but that’s what my standard is and that’s what I look at all the time.” He was profiled previously on The Krakens. Rane and his wife live in New York City.

You maintain two different websites. One of your personal work and one of your religious prints. They almost feel like two different artists–albeit two talented artists. Do you approach these religious images differently? The real difference in the two websites is commercial. One is for selling reproductions of my work, most of which are church related (the Church owns the paintings and the copyrights but in some cases they grant me permission to make and sell reproductions). Coming from a background in book and magazine illustration, my work for the Church primarily depicts scripture narratives. The other website is for displaying my more recent work, which is not so overtly scriptural but I feel is just as religious. Lately my work has often come from a broader spiritual source, not always inspired by a particular scripture story or event but carrying a definite spiritual message. One of hope. Recently these have often involved the intersection of the spiritual and the physical, i.e. resurrection, angelic involvement, and our connection to a spiritual realm. That is not to say I don’t do narrative story telling any more. I do and I still find it compelling, since behind the stories are those same spiritual themes. I enjoy painting pretty much anything; fruits and vegetables, household objects as well as family and friends in everyday life, and I find those subjects to be spiritual also.

Visit Walter Rane’s website.

View Walter Rane’s prints.

Walter Rane is a prolific painter and illustrator. He received a BFA from the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles and embarked on a career of a freelance book and magazine illustration. He expanded into religious works and gained prominence for his LDS-related pieces. His work has appeared in the LDS International Art Competition seven times. Rane and his wife live in New York City.

Tell us about your art career since you moved back to New York. I currently live in New York City. My wife Linda and I moved here about two and a half years ago. This is our third time living in the city, we actually met and started our family here and the city continues to pull us back. One of the reasons we are here now is to seek new opportunities to show my work and make new connections as I continue to grow (I hope). This may be working; I am involved in a couple of shows that I hope will lead to more. Other reasons for living here include the museums, galleries and over all creative energy that is here. We moved to Oregon, from Connecticut, about 20 years ago as my illustration career was fading. We also wanted to be near my wife’s family while our children were growing up. While in Oregon I started painting for galleries and did some teaching. Then the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints called to see if i was interested in doing work that could be used in visitor’s centers, temples, and other church buildings. I was, and I have done many. The Church owns about 90 of my paintings. They are often used in church publications as well being displayed in buildings. I continue to do work for the Church but am also looking for new venues.

You once wrote, ‘Art is communication. That’s what art is. If I’m trying to express something that is important to me I’ll do whatever I want’. I certainly believe that art is personal expression of my feelings and convictions. That is why commissions can sometimes be a difficult since you are being asked to express the ideas of someone else. I may have been referring to the fact that I think the finished artwork is what is important not the process by which it is made. Although I primarily use painting as my mode of expression (and at this point I rarely use anything but oil paint), I don’t feel bound by the medium or any particular technique. My purpose for painting is to do something that the viewer will find engaging, something that will open a door in their mind and there will be an exchange, a connection that maybe cannot be verbalized or had in any other way.

Visit Walter Rane’s website.

View Walter Rane’s prints.