Self-taught Canadian artist Randy Hryhorczuk works in oil painting and linocut printmaking. Painting from an art studio in Whitby Ontario, Randy produces artwork in subjects including portrait, abstract, still life (pay phones, mall rides) and urban landscapes (billboards, street). For over 25 years, Randy has been involved in community based arts initiatives, art fairs and juried art exhibitions both as participating artist and as part of an organizing team.
In addition to his personal painting practice, Randy conducts multi-media art workshops as an established artist member with Vibe Arts in Toronto. He also teaches painting through Station Gallery in Whitby, Ontario both in person (pre/post pandemic) and virtual. Randy is also a collector of artists work, focussing on Canadian Artists. He believes that supporting other artists’ strengthens the creative community while building vital relationships, and influencing friends and strangers to include original art in their home.
Randy Hryhorczuk’s art that has been collected throughout Canada, the United States, Great Britain and Guatemala, and has shown paintings at art galleries and fairs since 2000 in Canada, The United States and Germany. Randy has received recognition and awards, including the Silver Award from The Oshawa Art Associations (51st Annual Exhibition) at Robert McLaughlin Gallery for “Give This to Jack and Alice“. Oil paintings by Randy Hryhorczuk are available at Canvas Gallery in Toronto Ontario, and online through Saatchi Art and Etsy. Graphic T-Shirt designs are available on Teepublic and Threadless.
I grew up in the wild, rural countryside of B.C’s lower mainland. Forests and rivers were my childhood playground; endless summer days were spend exploring the woods, playing make-believe among the trees. A Love of comic books, Saturday morning cartoons and music fuelled creativity. I rented my first art studio in Vancouver in the late 1990’s. Tucked in a loft beyond the stage of a former ballroom famed for early big band and jazz and later for punk rock shows, accessible through a narrow hatch atop steep, makeshift stairs. The small room had a single window. Canvas had to be tacked to the wall, painted, and stretched outside of the room. Exhausted by overcast skies, damp and rainy days, I considered a change of scenery and vacated the studio in 1999. The building was later consumed by fire. 
Leaving British Columbia for Ontario, Toronto’s welcoming visual arts community was an inspiring change of direction. I connected with like-minded artists and galleries, intent on building a community by artists for artists and art lovers alike. For the first time I was not only motivated, but feeling positive and refreshed. After a month at the Backpackers Hostel at King St and Spadina Avenue, I took up an apartment at (formerly) the Heartbreak Hotel on Queen Street West, and started painting.
What seemed like a lifetime later – I relocated to Guatemala City, Guatemala in 2007 with my wife. Adventure awaited! I spent time drawing, painting, reading, visiting museums and exploring Central America; frequenting airports on trips to Canada for art exhibitions and deliveries. Guatemala City re-ignited my interest in the urban landscape. Marvelling at towering billboards lining city streets, I began producing a body of urban landscape paintings with the billboards as my subject. I replaced advertising with words of encouragement, hope, and social commentary. Returning to Toronto in 2009 with a renewed interest in unusual subject matter. Urban and suburban life influenced exploration of mall rides, vintage cars, pay-phones and other mundane subjects that drew on deep rooted fascination with memory and childhood. Everyday objects and structures that are often overlooked or exist outside of our periphery continue to draw my interest, in multiples, until the next thing. the end.