Richard-Hambleton-Catalog-1.Pdf
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REFLECTIONS Now the sine qua non of mega-collectors and elite auction houses around the world, the once subversive “Street Art” that originated in New York City in the 1980s with such artists as Keith Haring and Jean Michel Basquiat has redefined where and how we look at art. Today, in the streets and in contemporary galleries, names such as Banksy, Stik and Shepard Fairey are familiar to hip, younger collectors. With fairs and festivals from New York to the Greek Islands and beyond, “Street Art” has become a global phenomenon. The wave of creativity that began to be noticed thirty-five years ago in New York’s East Village and brought renown to such ‘tags’ as “Samo,” “Crash,” “Daze” and “Lady Pink” was a fertile, drug fueled period of spray and splatter. Julian Schnabel had begun to make headlines for the upstart Mary Boone Gallery as Ronald Reagan became President and scientists raced to contain the spread of a mysterious and deadly new virus (HIV Aids). It was into this environment that Canadian artist Richard Hambleton arrived. Hambleton’s first stop in America was the west coast of the United States. He used funds from a grant to visit cities like Seattle and San Francisco, where he caused an uproar with his controversial “Mass Murder” series. The artist peppered the sidewalks with white chalk outlines of bodies – like those a police coroner sketches around the victim of a crime – the bloodier looking the better. The authorities were not amused. He was told also, that he was ineligible for future grant money by his donors. Moving next to New York, Hambleton shifted his canvas from city streets to city walls, now painting life-size black shadow figures reminiscent of those photographed in Hiroshima and Nagasaki after its citizens had been vaporized by nuclear blasts. This new and powerful body of work, which he coined “street realism,” was well-known to denizens of the Lower East Side and provocatively sinister at night. Poised at the entrance to alleyways, on doorways and above loading docks, his life-sized silhouettes would startle passersby who would look twice to be sure there wasn’t someone actually there, lurking menacingly in the shadows. This combination of plein air painting, graffiti and downright mischievous theatrics made Hambleton one of the most sought-after artists of the period. He became a legend among his peers, painting his Shadowmen in many other cities in America and abroad. Not unlike Francis Bacon with his interest in the macabre, Jackson Pollock with his drips, and more recently James Nares with his mops, Hambleton’s style is recognizable. He is an action painter whose subjects, including Marlboro Men, rodeo riders, gigantic ocean waves, black cats and figures running in the surf, befit his style. This exhibition, which is a micro-survey of the last thirty-five years, includes works from as early as 1982 and as late as 2017. While the repetition one sees in Hambleton’s visual vocabulary is no doubt a concession to the marketplace, the integrity of his work is self-evident. If this once willful and uncompromising “wunderkind” of the 1980s fell prey to the demand of his patrons (and enablers) over many decades in order to survive, rather than hold forth only for his muse, so be it. And, despite failing health, his recent work remains energetic, fresh and even elegant. Perhaps no subject of Hambleton’s visual vocabulary is more popular than the “Rodeo Painting.” A cowboy, holding fast to a bucking bronco, is not only an exciting subject to paint but also an incredibly powerful American icon. With pounding hoofs and splashing mud, the silhouette of this anonymous everyman remains riveting through many, many permutations in sizes from petite to monumental. It’s really hard not to love them. Hambleton followed a different muse in the creation of his abstracted “Beautiful Paintings” often titled “----“. These compositions, many with bright metallic backgrounds and verdant flora, are complementary to the shadow paintings yet seem to reveal the artist in a more positive state of mind. They shine with a less often seen gorgeousness of Hambleton’s creative spirit. Glistening with inner light and moodiness, they present an idyllic realm much less scary than Hambleton’s shadow world. In stark contrast to anything else in his oeuvre, it is the “Blood Paintings” that, for many, are the most disturbing. My memory of seeing these works for the first time is indelible. Invited for a studio visit in the 1990s, an assistant and I arrived at a small, dusty loft, bare except for a few pieces of furniture and a mattress in the corner. On the floor was a stack of sepia toned drawings on rag paper that appeared to be a hybrid of the wave and beautiful paintings. Some were minimal with geometric shapes; others were complete Turner-esque landscapes. Hambleton had created them with his own blood, drawn with a syringe. The artist explained matter-of- factly how he efficiently repurposed syringes for a second use by drawing his own blood. Then, as any great illustrator would handle a technical pen, he worked meticulously with this red ink, which soon turned brown. In the years that have followed, having seen prison drawings by Rudolf Bauer, intricate soap sculptures by prison inmates, “outsider” drawings by Bill Traylor and other art created in the least likely or hospitable environments, I have come to stand in awe of the creative drive of artists to make art by whatever means necessary and with whatever tools are at hand. The muse is strong in them and the results are often breathtaking. Many artists wrestle with the muse, some dance with her, and some are enslaved. I believe Richard has encountered the muse in all of her guises. Steven Lowy July 2017 Steven Lowy, Portrait of Richard Hambleton. Circa 1983-1985. Digital print 19” x 13” PRESS 5 RICHARD HAMBLETON 6 PRESS 7 RICHARD HAMBLETON Untitled (Shadowman on Door), 1982 Mixed Media on Steel Door, 99 x 31 inches 8 SHADOW PAINTINGS Untitled (Shadow Man, Jumper), 2009 Acrylic on canvas 73 1/2 x 53 1/2 inches 9 RICHARD HAMBLETON Atlantic City, 1982 Acrylic on Canvas, 90 x 52 inches Provenance: Alexander Milliken Gallery 10 SHADOW PAINTINGS Shadow Painting, ca 1980s Acrylic on galvanized steel, 81 1/2 x 36 inches 11 RICHARD HAMBLETON Untitled (Halston Shadow Head), 1983-94 Acrylic on Paper, 19 3/4 x 15 inches 12 HALSTON SHADOW HEADS Untitled (Halston Shadow Head), 1983-94 Acrylic on Paper, 19 3/4 x 15 inches 13 RICHARD HAMBLETON Untitled (Shadow Head), 1983-94 Acrylic on Paper, 19 3/4 x 15 inches 14 SPLATTER HEADS Teal and Copper Shadow Head, 1997 Metallic Paint on Board, 26 x 24 inches 15 RICHARD HAMBLETON Untitled (shadow painting #4), N.D. Acrylic on Paper, 21 x 14 inches 16 SPLATTER HEADS Untitled, 1999 Acrylic on Luan, 33 1/2 x 24 1/2 inches 17 RICHARD HAMBLETON Untitled (shadow head), Circa 2005-10 Acrylic on Paper, 17.5 x 13.5 inches 18 SHADOW HEADS Untitled (shadow painting #1), Circa 1989 Acrylic on Found Proofing Sheets, 21 x 15 inches 19 RICHARD HAMBLETON Untitled (shadow painting #2), Circa 1989 Acrylic on Found Proofing Sheets, 21 x 15 inches 20 SHADOW HEADS Untitled (shadow painting #3), Circa 1989 Acrylic on Found Proofing Sheets, 21 x 15 inches 21 RICHARD HAMBLETON Hank O’Neal, Aug 27, 1981 Chromogenic inkjet archival print, 20 x 24 inches 22 HISTORICAL CONTEXT Hank O’Neal, Shadow man with Basquiat tag, 1981 Hank O’ Neal and Chris RWK, Chromogenic inkjet archival print, 23 x 17 inches Shadow man with Basquiat tag, 2012 Mixed media collaboration over archival digital photo on canvas, 60 x 40 inches 23 RICHARD HAMBLETON Untitled (Orange Rodeo Rider), 2005 Acrylic on Canvas, 60 x 60 inches 24 RODEO PAINTINGS Untitled (Frank’s Chop Shop/Rodeo), 2016 Acrylic on Canvas, 61 x 23 inches 25 RICHARD HAMBLETON Untitled (Small Rodeo Rider), 2003 Acrylic on Canvas, 11 x 8.5 inches 26 RODEO PAINTINGS Untitled (Silver Rodeo Rider), 2012 Acrylic on Canvas, 106 x 67 inches 27 RICHARD HAMBLETON Untitled (Purple Rodeo Rider), 2016 Acrylic on Canvas, 40 x 30 inches 28 RODEO PAINTINGS Untitled (Rodeo Rider), 1985 Acrylic on Canvas, 96 x 72 inches Provenance: Piezo Electric Gallery 29 RICHARD HAMBLETON Untitled (Beautiful Painting), 2000 Acrylic and metal leaf on masonite, 17.5 x 23.5 inches 30 BEATUTIFUL PAINTINGS Untitled (Green Mist), 1987 Oil on Canvas and Panel, 22 x 66 x 4 inches 31 RICHARD HAMBLETON Untitled (Red Squares C738), 1987 Watercolor on Paper, 17 7/8 x 23 13/16 inches 32 BEATUTIFUL PAINTINGS Untitled (Black Square C740), 1987 Watercolor on Paper, 17 7/8 x 23 13/16 inches 33 RICHARD HAMBLETON Untitled, 1994 Blood on Watercolor paper, 16 x 20 inches 34 BLOOD PAINTINGS Untitled, 1995 Blood on Watercolor paper, 12 x 16 inches 35 RICHARD HAMBLETON Untitled (Tabletop), 1987 Mixed Media on Wood, 22 x 30 inches 36 RICHARD HAMBLETON ADDENDUM 37 RICHARD HAMBLETON Red, 1984 Acrylic on canvas, 112 3/4 x 40 1/4 inches 38 ILLUSTRATIONS Cover/Pg 29: Hambleton, Richard. Untitled (Rodeo Rider). 1985. Acrylic on canvas. 96 x 72 inches ( 243.8 x 182.9 cm). Signed lower left. Exhibited by Doug Milford Gallery, New York. Private Collection. Los Angeles, CA Page 4: Lowy, Steven. Studio Portrait of Richard Hambleton, ca. 1983-1985, Digital print on archival paper. 19 x 13 inches (48.2 x 33 cm). Signed lower right. Courtesy of Steven Lowy.