May Artist of the Month
Meet Mark Richards
Artist Mark Richards describes himself as an “Artist Adventurer,” whose escapades began at age 11. He won his first award for painting at 13 and is grateful that art has always played a major role in his life. Richards pursues art to “find universal truths: both aesthetically and spiritually.” He likes to think of his art as part of the greater good. He paints “from life, from memory and from emotion” and seeks to evoke emotion from the viewer.
Inspired by his grandmother, Richards grew up in Toledo, Ohio, went to Ohio State where he trained as an American Realist and graduated from University of California Santa Barbara with a degree in Sculpture. His career was in professional photography which allowed him to pursue art in the workplace. Now retired, he is enjoying the evolution of his painting. He considers his greatest strength to be his color fluency or tonalism. His style has morphed from realism to abstraction and sometimes back again. “I believe that all art is composed of abstractions of color forms, and all abstraction comes from nature.” He has spent the last 5 years pursuing abstraction.
His abstractions have an emphasis on color exploration and “ask the viewer to explore different emotions and meanings.” Richards refers to his works as “Color Seasons’: “ephemeral images…that suit the temporary nature of the motifs from nature with long freely applied sweeps of thick paint coursing across each canvas; colors surging forward and back.” These vibrant paintings will be on display at the Mosesian Center for the Arts in their show titled Flow.
Because his work is primarily color based, Richards is able to bounce between abstraction and realism. He always uses oil as his medium but often will thin the oil so that it behaves almost like watercolor do a quick study or underpainting. He enjoys plein air painting and often can be found painting at the MFA. He has recently been working on The Dead Christ with Angels in the Renaissance Gallery at the MFA. Other artists that he admires are Neil Welliver, Charles Sheeler, Louise Nevelson and Marsden Hartley.
Richards has always been intrigued by the history of European Art and Buddhist Iconography. In addition to painting, he creates wood sculptures inspired by Northwest Coast Indian Art. His sculptures are “totems: a memory stick” of important events and emotions, related to family, nature, the meaning of life.
“Truths are revealed when you make art. The more you practice the more truths are revealed. These truths are both spiritual and artistic; in art the basic elements are revealed.” Landscape painting, Richards believes, is the “artists’ expression of self within the context of the natural environment. He refers to these abstract landscapes as “magical landscapes; color being the key tool to unlock the magic.”
Instagram@MarkRichards7892