Richard Colman: Misanthrope
Artist Richard Colman on heavy paintings, causality and his latest exhibition, Misanthrope.
"It’s been a heavy year politically, particularly in the US, so doing monolithic paintings felt appropriate to me."
Your past work has been vibrant in color where this exhibition features rather minimal and toned-down color palettes. What brought about this shift?
The black and monochrome hues came from reaching a point where I had to take a break from using tons of different colors in my work. It started as an exercise—working with black, heavy, thick paintings—and ended up captivating me. The exhibition is juxtaposed with monolithic works presented next to the colorful pieces because I wanted to reintroduce myself to working with colors. It’s been a heavy year politically, particularly in the US, so doing monolithic paintings felt appropriate to me. Painting that way is a lot more instinctual and emotional—more immediate—as compared to painting with many colors, which is a more consid...