The Ray Troll Story
Welcome to trollart.com, Alaskan artist Ray Troll’s “home” on the world wide web. Ray’s work has been described as “scientific surrealism” a label that he’s okay with. He’s widely recognized for his obsessively detailed scientifically accurate artwork along with his offbeat, quirky sense of humor. Enjoy your journey into his unique worldview as you explore the website.
“If there were such a thing, Ray Troll would be the Artist Laureate of hallucinatory fish images.”
–John Straley, poet and author of detective fiction
When I study the way Ray depicts fish, the fish in my own life become more vivid and delicious and dear to me. When I ponder the length and detail of his artistic engagement with fish, and then consider the resilience and complexity of the creatures capable of inspiring such an engagement, I feel far fewer fears for the intergalactic Future of Fishes, Life, Ray, me, and Fish-lovers everywhere.
–David James Duncan, author of The River Why and the Brothers K
Admitting you’re obsessed with fish isn’t easy. Especially since there aren’t any support groups or meetings you can go to, or therapists who specialize in fish addiction. How does a guy like Ray Troll tell his kids he’s spent eight hours a day for ten years drawing pictures of fish, filling up notebooks and scratch pads with endless renditions of ratfish, long ago abandoning the pretense or that metaphor has anything to do with it? Some of us are just different I guess, but it seems like a lot more people are tumbling to fish life of one kind or another, losing control with our finny neighbors.
Brad Matsen author of Titanic’s Last Secrets, Jacques Cousteau: the Sea King and Planet Ocean: Dancing to the Fossil Record
Ray is a different kind of paleoartist… he’s a scientific surrealist. His art, while often paleontological, is infused with the rest of life. In his images, extinct animals visit the modern world in daydreams, as if R. Crumb had time traveled back to the Cretaceous.
–Dr. Kirk Johnson, paleobotanist and author
“As a visual artist who has popularized many scientific concepts, especially those relevant to natural history and evolutionary theory, he has reached broad audiences in ways that can affect public support of and education about science. And without either of these – public support and education – science would not happen so easily.”
–Dr. Tony Martin, Emory University
Ray Troll, draws inspiration from the fossil record and pays homage to the familiar and bizarre in stunning portrayals of lost worlds. Ray has a genuine gift for illuminating the evolution of life in an innovative blend of art and science.
–Dr. Constance Soja, Colgate University