Saturday, October 29, 2016

Wellies

Just last week I put the final touches to this painting and brought the finished work to a custom framer in the TriBeca area of New York. The frame we choose for this piece is pretty special! It's made from ebonized reclaimed chestnut.

With a number of the works finally completed I've been thinking a great deal about the context of my work and how the pieces I choose for this exhibition will gel together a create a story.

This painting has most definitely made the cut!

Hope you like it.


- Richard

Wellies, 2016

oil on canvas

22 x 18 inches.


Wednesday, September 28, 2016

'The Litmus Test' & NYC Studio Residency/Solo Show.

Saturday October 1st begins a two month New York City studio residency which includes a Solo Exhibition at The Sheen Centre for Thought and Culture, 18 Bleecker Street, NY 10012.

My Solo Show 'Where Your Treasure Is', opens Thursday November 10th at 6pm.

The Exhibition continues until Monday November 28th.

For studio visits during this period October 1st to November 28th please contact info@richardhearns.com or call +353(0)86 216 1135.


I look forward to writing to you next from NYC.


- Richard

Thursday, September 22, 2016

Cremnitz White

Chemnitz White, 2016
oil on panel - 7x5inches

Reserved for 'Where Your Treasure Is', Opening November 10th at The Sheen Centre for Thought and Culture, 18 Bleecker St, NY 10012, New York City.

Please contact, info@richardhearns.com for more information.


Thursday, September 15, 2016

Overlapping Forms and NYC Solo Show.

I've just two weeks studio time in Ireland until I fly out to the big apple for my 5th NYC solo show.
Here is another small work which will form part of a series or 'cluster' of small paintings which I will exhibit along with larger works this November.

Tomorrow I plan to post 'The Litmus Test' video which will also be included in this exhibition at New Yorks newest arts center on Bleecker street. 

Overlapping Forms, 2016
oil on panel - 26x20cm [10x8inches]
Reserved. Contact me at info@richardhearns.com or PM me for more information.


Monday, September 12, 2016

Blue Can with Notebook and Brown Bottle

I've been putting together a little collection of smaller paintings that I plan to exhibit alongside some larger finished works in New York this coming October and November. These smaller pieces feature single objects or a combination of objects in a planned sequence or composition.

It's my hope, when beginning works like this,  that I employ a strong and focused 'economy of means', that is to say that I use my brushwork, gesture and colour in such a way as to tell a story in the simplest and most direct manner possible - It's not easy and a struggle that ends in anticlimax and frustration at times. But when it works it can be beautiful.

This painting measures 12x8inches or 30x20cm. It's my hope to be able to work on and create a number of works in this manner during my time in NYC this year, and if they are good enough, to exhibit them along with my other chosen pieces at my studio at the Sheen Centre on Bleecker St and at my exhibit 'Where Your Treasure Is' which opens November 10th.

Just last week Videographer Eoin Collins finished an edit documenting one such piece. This short three minute documentary focuses on a work created from direct observation and will feature at my show in New York so as to engage and give visitors a deeper insight in to my processes. I look forward to share this specially commissioned piece with you here online in the coming days.

- Richard

Blue Can with Notebook and Brown Bottle, 2016.
oil on Italian gesso panel - 12x8inches.
Reserved for my coming NYC Exhibit.
Contact, info@richardhearns.com for further information.



Monday, September 5, 2016

Commercium

I began this painting in Germany at the Kunstacademie in Bad Reichenhall. Nestled close to the Austrian city of Salzburg, the area in which the studios and academy are situated is alpine, and the surrounding mountains are scared with trails leading deep into the landscape.
My palette and gestures here seem to reflect the excitement I felt and the powerful 'exchange' I experienced during my time there.
It's been three months or so since I last shared any images of my large scale informal abstract paintings. Over the last number of weeks I have begun to work on, and complete a number of these pieces. Here is an image of one such work which is on it's to an important collection in Dublin.
Hope you enjoy it. - Richard Hearns
Commercium (Exchange), 2016.
oil on linen - 178x135cm.
Private Collection, Ireland.


Thursday, August 25, 2016

Monk's Hydrangeas

Every weekend is 'market weekend' for Boo and her Thai cooking stall at the Kinvara and Ballyvaughan farmers markets. Many other local producers, artisans and musicians also take part to make these markets the special weekly events that they are for the larger community and visitors.

One very special market seller is Michael Monk - previously owner of the famous and renowned Monk's Pub and Seafood restaurant at the pier in Ballyvaughan, Micheal retired some years ago from the publican trade, and became as famous for his 'spuds', (potatoes to the uninitiated) and as a local vegetable farmer in Ballyvaughan.

Michael, having never lost his Dublin charm, is also partial to gifting girls with flowers! A couple of weekends ago Boo was the recipient of these Hydrangeas from Michael's garden.  I thought it would make a great composition for a 'sight size' painting with it's strong leaf flowerhead of reds and pinks.

In life and art it's ultimately the combination of curved lines and straight lines that brings about perceived beauty. Through the deliberate balancing of the strength and order of the straight lines in this composition I plotted a foundational vehicle in which to place the grace and elegance of the curve - it's the balance between them that provides the life and structure of the painting.

I'm looking forward to showing this piece to Michael Monk on Saturday. I think he will get a surprise by his gift of flowers now immortalised in paint.

Hope you like it.

- Richard

Monk's Hydrangeas
oil on linen - 60x60cm [24x24inches]
Reserved for my coming New York Solo Show.
Contact, info@richardhearns.com for more information.


Sunday, August 21, 2016

Monolith

Have you been to Vietnam?
Hanoi is were this short story started for me, the painting came later.

I visited that vast and densely populated city earlier this year. A cold snap of weather had drifted from China down to the northern parts of Laos and Vietnam - so unseasonably cold for that time of year that people were caught by surprise and wandered around the city of Luang Prabang wrapped in bed sheets in an effort to keep warm.

When we arrived in Hanoi it was still wet and cold. My parents were traveling with Boo and I, and efforts had been made to accommodate their interests, including a visit to the square and mausoleum of General Ho Chi Minh.

The atmosphere I felt as we circled the square looking for an entrance was alien and unwelcoming. The mausoleum stood in dark granite backed by a forboding grey sky. The building was fronted by a strong bold red typeface and grey block paving on which people shuffled into line to queue. The soldiers who filed people into line looked untrusting - no welcome was given - no smile - no colour - 'no cameras' - 'no talking'! All you could hear was the sound of wet boots along the red plastic carpet cover which lead us towards and into the monolith.

The remains of venerated General lay there in that vast silent chamber, a ghastly colour of orange light cast over his face. He was plastic and unreal. It was the most uncomfortable architectural space my body had ever entered. I wanted out!

While creating this piece I was surprisingly reminded of that day and my experience of the tomb.
In a way I feel this painting makes battle with my memory of that colourless place - that unnatural space and mummification of life.

A small orange colour note placed along the granite slab nods to my memory of the body of the general. Light and the play of colour and reflection pervades even in shadow.

Monolith, 2016
oil on linen - [24x24in] 60x60cm
PM me for details on this piece.


Thursday, August 11, 2016

What is It?

What's the pictorial concept for a work like this?
What's the initial excitement that draws me in and makes me want to transmute, filter and communicate? 

John O' Donohue described the moment of inspiration so beautifully in his poem, The Artist at the Start of Day - 
'Your eyes seduced by some unintended glimpse
That cut right through the surface to a source'.

Every once and a while a piece just presents itself like this, forcefully communicating an idea for you to investigate. 

With this work it was all about illustrating a hierarchy of 'edges' described by gradated light. 

I posted an image of this work accompanied by a number of other recently created pieces in my latest newsletter. This piece has been reserved and purchased in advance of my coming NYC solo show in November.

'Lilies', 2016
oil on canvas,
50x40cm [20x16in]
Private Collection, New York City.




Friday, July 29, 2016

Summer Newsletter 2016

I'm about to post my Summer Newsletter with details of my coming New York Solo Exhibit and Residency as well as information on my works in San Fransisco, and new studio happenings. 

Join me on this journey by entering your email address into the newsletter sign up feature on my website.

www.richardhearns.com