Ramona Nordal

Canadian-born artist Ramona Nordal studied art at the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design in Vancouver, British Columbia. She studied lithography, colour theory, painting, and drawing, with a focus on anatomy drawing and painting. Colour theory has always been a huge part of Nordal’s process, and she is quickly becoming known for her richly evocative colour palette.

The central theme that unites all of her work is the mixture of the traditional with the unconventional, not only in her subject matter and colour palette but also in her approach to materials and technique. She focuses mainly on female subjects in her work in an attempt to capture their strength and uniqueness. At first glance, her figures appear bold, yet they offer almost ethereal characteristics. Nordal pushes artistic boundaries by incorporating drawing into her work. This is evident in the intricate, detailed penwork on her subjects’ faces. The softness of the drawing mixed with the boldness of the bodies and background create an incredible fusion that offers just the right amount of tension.

Her subjects are a mixture of the female form, with references dating as early as the late 1800s to the 1970s. By combining several decades, she somehow creates figures that are uniquely Nordal. She is hyper-aware of art’s relationship with human emotion, and her subjects reflect this as they captivate and entice the viewers into their world.

Nordal works on several pieces at once in her studio in Toronto, stating, “I find I get bored easily, and working on three or four paintings at a time keeps things fresh for me. I work on one, then switch halfway through the day and start working on another one. This gives me the freedom to work on several different collections at once. I like the randomness of the process.”

Nordal has exhibited in the United States, Canada, Germany, Mexico, Kuwait, and Australia. Her work has been collected worldwide. Ramona Nordal currently lives and works in Toronto, Canada.

“The random collaboration of old and new is important to me because this is how I see the new generation. It is the mixture of traditional and unconventional that attracts us.”