‘Looking inside my brain’: 40 years of Ray Troll’s inspiration and imagination captured in new book

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The Ketchikan artist’s work has become iconic in Alaska, blending bold psychedelic colors, natural science, surreal sensibilities and, of course, humor.

In the late 1980s, Ray Troll was living in Ketchikan, slowly establishing himself as an artist obsessed with the natural world and possessed with a boundless sense of humor. Inspired by the annual return of salmon to nearby Ketchikan Creek and intrigued by their life cycles, Troll had recently come up with a drawing of two of the fish, coupled with the words “Let’s Spawn.” It was, he said, “a euphemism for the dance of life.

More than three decades later, that drawing, wildly popular in Alaska, has provided both the title and cover art for a career retrospective recently published by Clover Press. “Spawn Till You Die: The Fin Art of Ray Troll” contains over 200 examples of his now iconic drawings and paintings, which blend scientifically accurate depictions of living and extinct animals with surreal scenery, pop culture references, psychedelic colors, zany humor and endless puns.

The success of “Spawn Till You Die” sent Troll into high gear, and he’s been a full-time artist ever since. His work is dominated by fish, fossils, dinosaurs, invertebrates, bears, coffee, cheeseburgers and, not uncommonly, Troll himself as a befuddled observer. The humorous settings that his creatures are found in are often far from their natural homes.

 

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