Rand Carlson was born and raised in the San Francisco bay area. He came to Tucson in 1971. He is a 1979 graduate of the University of Arizona (B.A. Philosophy).

“I have been a painter, illustrator, and cartoonist for over 30 years. I have been making marks on surfaces. When I began making the tin collages, I set out to do so differently.

Rather than making marks, I would create the design or image by editing only. That is, I would find, collect and harvest brightly colored tin from thrift stores, and sort it, cut it, into separate, disconnected parts. Then by editing, choose the shape and context of those pieces, and visually stitch together an image or design. Let the mind of the viewer reassign as it were, from a fragment of a dog’s coat into the side of a mountain.

I also use language extensively in my work. I collect letters and emblems from wrecked cars; break them apart and spell the narrative for many pieces. I call these pieces ‘word toys’, because they look a bit like shiny metal toys with words attached.

I cannot control what I find and collect, so there is a bit of serendipity in the process, and every work is unique.”

He is also the author of Random Shots, a comic strip that appears in the Tucson Weekly. His work can be seen in Bohemia, Pop Cycle, Tucson Botanical Gardens, TMA Museum Store, Tohono Chul Park, and in several galleries across the country.