Beth Rundquist

Rundquist created the paintings in Fauna with a desire for magic and fantasy. In these paintings, we see animals at play, as the artist combines the animals together in unexpected ways, and in whimsical scenarios. Behaviors and characteristics within the animal kingdom are reimagined, as the artist explores the connections within nature: the anatomy of the squirrel and the brown hare are similar, the pig skull feels bovine, the tortoise head snakelike. As the viewer experiences these works, the notion of interconnectedness resurfaces again and again. This interconnectedness can be as simple two beings sharing a similar shape or form, or as complex as symbiosis or competition. Some of Rundquist’s strongest artistic influences are drawn from an international range of painters: Ilya Repin (Russia), Joaquin Sorolla (Spain) and Anders Zorn (Sweden). 

Rundquist says, “My intention is to pay tribute to some of the animals in nature that we tend to overlook, and sometimes even dishonor.  I am lucky to live and paint in peaceful environments where nature abounds. I am constantly considering the symbolism: including elegance, patience, and wisdom.”

KMR Arts owner says, " ‘Fauna’ showcases Rundquist's curiously playful ideas within the animal world. This whimsy is rendered in the artist's refined and enlightened painting style. It is a true revelation to see these ideas on the canvas."
After receiving her BA in art from Smith College, Rundquist studied at the Lyme Academy of Fine Arts, Connecticut, L’Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux Arts, Paris, The Sculpture Center and Sculpture Studio, NYC and the Repin Institute of Russia. Beth Rundquist teaches painting at The New York Academy of Art in New York City and her paintings are in international public and private collections. Beth Rundquist lives and works in New York City. Rundquist’s portrait commissions have taken her throughout the US and abroad. Beth Rundquist is available for individual portraits. For more information contact kathy@kmrarts.com

If you, too, dream to be born again
as a bird, wouldn’t you want to be
a great blue heron, rare vagrant
wintering in the Azores and coastal Spain,
snacking on shrimp while wading
on long, beautiful legs? And if

you loved your life as a human who
sheltered in a small house by a lake, you
could summer there again, nesting
in the white pine, fishing on the shore
in the blue Zen of stillness when early
morning ambers the eastern sky.

by Margaret Hasse