Randy L Purcell (b. 1968, Paducah, KY)
Randy L Purcell enlisted in the United States Army Reserve directly out of high school, serving six years, including deployment during Desert Storm. After exploring several vocations in the years that followed, he ultimately found his path as a creative.
He enrolled at Middle Tennessee State University in 2005 and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting in 2009. It was there where he developed his signature encaustic process: transferring magazine ink directly onto beeswax to create intricate, mosaic-like compositions.
Purcell’s work explores memory and perception through the interplay of distance and detail. From afar, his paintings resemble faded photographs; up close, they reveal carefully assembled fragments of text and imagery. Built piece by piece, each surface reflects themes of structure, storytelling, and accumulated experience.
His work has been exhibited in galleries and public venues including Nashville International Airport (BNA), the Grand Rapids Public Museum, and Middle Tennessee State University. He has participated in major exhibitions such as ArtPrize and ArtFields and has presented a solo exhibition in Canada. Public art commissions include a Metro Arts Nashville bike rack design and murals for Nashville’s ARTober celebration and MTSU’s Veteran Center.
Beyond his personal practice, Randy is a dedicated advocate for the arts. He co-founded the Nashville Collage Collective and the collaborative Four Artist TN and has served on the boards of L’Evate, Turnip Green Creative Reuse, and NUMBER: Inc. Magazine. Passionate about sharing his craft, he teaches encaustic art through workshops, in-class demonstrations, and online courses, inspiring others to explore the rich possibilities of mixed media and image transfer.
Randy is represented by The District Gallery in Knoxville, TN, The Copper Fox Gallery in Leiper’s Fork, TN, and KORE Gallery in Louisville, KY. For further information, visit his website, social media, and YouTube channel. He resides in East Tennessee.