OWEN F RANSEN

WORKS
( I have not managed to trace all the works. Some have been, er, "lost". And I have not managed to find the best photos of the works. So this page is a work in progress with less than ideal reproductions. My apologies.)

Lola (2010)

Catfish (2010)

The Doctor's Wife And Her Husband (2010)

Palcoscenico 1 (2009)

Palcoscenico 2 (2009)

Palcoscenico 3 (2009)

Black And White Cat (2005)

Below you can see a detail of the image, the cat is made up of hundreds of tiny mice:

And, looking from the left the cat is black, while looking from the right the cat is white:

Why do cats figure so much in my work? I like dogs just as much, but most dogs simply do not have the extra dimension of mystery which cats have. This is probably because cats remain silent much of the time and dogs bark and make a fuss. Visually (in general) cats have a much more dignified profile than dogs.

The Chess Players, 2004

This actually shows two friends of mine playing chess. Looking from one side you see Alberto, looking from the other side you see Pinuccio, and looking close up you see that both faces are made of many chess pieces. I can't remember who won, but yuo can see that they are totally concentrated on the game. I prefer backgammon, in my other job I program computers for the planning of safety lighting, and I have to be very disciplined and technically concentrated. Chess would be no fun for me, whereas backgammon is an ideal mix of chance and skill.

Where I Want To Be, 2005

This picture is where I want to be - from one side you can see the moon, reminding me of my childhood when I studied astromomy, from the other side you can see my cat (now dead) sleeping, who I envy. The Great Bear is the constellation at the top center, on the left is the Plieades, on the right Cassiopea, and at the bottom Orion. I love to find and admire all four constellations on clear nights.

This is one of the cases in which the title, Where I Want To Be, is important. I want to be back as a child and I want to be asleep in the sky. Phyically. Really.

The Lizard Sun, 2004

I like the contrast between the fine detail in the sun disk (made of many outlines of lizards) and the roughness of the blue black sky.

Fripp Eno Gunn, 2004

Robert Frip, Brian Eno, Trey Gunn sometimes make complex harmonies and rthyms (sometimes together and sometimes alone). More on infinity here.

The Sleepy Clock

Sometime during the early 1990's, as I was sipping a cold beer in the garden of a bar an idea came into my head for a sleepy clock. This clock would sleep with it's hands at 6:30, and only when it heard someone nearby would it show the real time. From the idea of the clock to the making of the clock passed about four years. I had to learn how to control stepper motors, how to get a small "on board" computer to hear sounds and move the hands of the clock up to the right time. I also invented some "mysterious" chimes which ring when the clock is disturbed.

Relaxing Flowers, 2000

In the center of the image a regular perfect ring of imaginary flowers, as the eye travels further from the center the ring disintegrates and the flowers lose their regularity

The Engineer, 2005

Another portrait of a friend, Ginka, who is a mechanical engineer. The portrait is made up of many tiny spanners and hammers and pliers.

Buddha-Teapot (2004)

From one side you see a Buddha image, from the other you see a teapot. The Buddha image is made of many tiny teapots, the teapot is made of many tiny Buddhas. The idea made me smile.

The Forest of the Night, 2004

A lizard, a cat and a restless blinking eye.

Black on White on Black (2000)

A pure abstract monochrome dance.

Giordano Bruno

Looking from the left you see Giordano Bruno, from the right one of his mystical drawings. (He thought that the universe was infinite, that there was life on other planets, that the Christian Trinity joins to become a single divine unity. And for this he was burned at the stake in Rome by the Inquisition in 1600.)

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Moreno (2005)

Moreno is a lively, imaginative, creative cigar smoking friend.

Grey Moon (2003)

Sunita's Hand and Eye (2005)

Blue Fans White Light

Flaming Mandala, 2003

Two flaming mandalas are the subject of this image, one flames red and one flames blue.The main form of the mandala is almost lost in the flames.

Geisha, 2004

You can't see the detail from here, but the figure is actually made up of many tiny tiny geisha outlines. The base image comes from a more than 30 years ago, when I was leaving high school. It is a black and white group photograph with a girl sitting at the front of the group. Her outline is seems stable and dignified somehow and has always struck me.

Energy Is Complex, 2004

Inhale, Exhale, 2003

Fire-Up, 2003

Honey, 1999

The Flourish, 1999

Bruno's Cats, 2008

Two Moons, 2008, 20cm x 20cm

Bruno's Thoughts, 2008, 20cm x 20cm

Land Forest Sea Forest, 2008

The following 6 pictures (not 12!) are untitled. Each is 20cmx20cm

Wink (On Remembering Something Important...) 2009

Two Forests, 2008

Simone, 2009

A Moment In Time - A Crow - A Cat, 2009

This picture is in the hands of someone who has not paid for it!

Midnight Fruit, 2009, 90cm x 90cm

Midday Fruit, 2009, 90cm x 90cm

The Targets Of Joy, 2009, 20cm x 20cm