Joseph Richards

Joseph Richards’ precisely painted canvases of giant cranes, cargo booms, propellers and train engines are fueled with a fascination like that of a six-year old boy. Working directly from photographs, Richards unites light and color together as one element, evident in the reflective surfaces of steel. The otherwise mundane signs of corrosive wear are magnified; rust stains glow on the canvas and yellow painted pulleys radiate like beacons against a bright, blue sky. Richards finds beauty in their dramatic color, resilient texture, definitive form and functionality. Richards paints sections of these objects in grand scale, with canvases up to 6 feet long and eye-popping color, calling attention to their massive proportions and exceptional strength.

Richards had solo exhibits in New York City, Scottsdale AZ, and Washington DC, and his work is found in private and corporate collections here and abroad, e.g., the Tucson Museum of Fine Arts, Mobil Oil, Lankenau Hospital in Philadelphia, and E. Jean Belloni in Geneva, Switzerland.

Resume

Born in 1921 in Des Moines, Iowa, Joseph Richards left for Chicago after high school to pursue a career in art. After serving in the U.S. Navy from 1942 – 1945, he went on to study at the American Academy of Art in Chicago and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia. He eventually settled with his wife, Betty, in New York City. In 1969, longtime dealer Ivan Karp opened The OK Harris Gallery on West Broadway in Manhattan’s SoHo. Karp was at the forefront of the Photorealism movement, showing artists such as Duane Hanson and Manny Farber. Joseph Richards opened a solo show in 1982 at OK Harris and would continue to show successfully through the early 2000s. Today, his paintings are found in private and corporate collections here and abroad. The artist spent his last years living in Hillsdale, NY in a house of his own design. It was here in Columbia County that he completed a series of cupola paintings in his early 80s. He described the charm of these subjects as “usually the one bit of whimsy and frivolity displayed in an otherwise austere and functional structure – the American barn.”
Richards enjoyed painting in his glassy, well-lit studio, as well as downhill skiing at Hunter Moutain's ski resort well into his late 70s. He passed away in his home in September, 2007.

Solo Exhibitions:

2002 O.K. Harris Works of Art, New York, NY
1998 O.K. Harris Works of Art, New York, NY
1994 O.K. Harris Works of Art, New York, NY
1992 O.K. Harris Works of Art, New York, NY
1989 O.K. Harris Works of Art, New York, NY
1986 O.K. South, Miami, FL
1985 Soghor-Leonard and Associates, New York, NY
1982 O.K. Harris West, Scottsdale, AZ
1982 O.K. Harris Works of Art, New York, NY
1981 O.K. Harris West, Scottsdale, AZ
1979 Capricorn Galleries, Washington, DC

Group Exhibitions:
2015 Heavy Metal, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, NY
2012 Four Painters, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, NY
2008 Summer Group Show, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, NY
2007 New York to New Hampshire: Artists of the OK Harris Gallery, New England College Art Gallery, Henniker, NH
2005 Cupolas, Haddad Lascano Gallery, Gt. Barrington, MA
2003 Everything OK at OK Harris, Brevard Museum of Art and Science, Melbourne, FL
2003 Subject: Object, O.K. Harris Works of Art, New York, NY
2002 As Real As It Gets: Super Realism and Photo-Realism from the Tucson Museum of Art
and Private Collections, Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ
2002 Contemporary Realism V, M.A. Doran Gallery, Tulsa, OK
2001 65th National Midyear Exhibition, Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH
1996 A Survey of Contemporary American Realism, Posco Gallery, Seoul, South Korea
1991 A Small Bite Of The Big Apple: Contemporary Art From O.K. Harris, Bobbitt Visual Arts Center,
Albion College, Albion, MI
1991 Perspectives on Realism: 1950-1991, Louis Stern Galleries, Beverly Hills, CA
1990 Amerikansk Fotorealism, Art Now Gallery, Gothenburg, Sweden
1988 Tortue is O.K., Tortue Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
1987 Mainstream America: The Desind Collection, Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH
1986 O.K. South, Miami, FL
1984 New Realism, Robert Kidd Galleries, Birmingham, MI
1981 45th Annual Midyear Exhibition, Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH
1980 Operations Building Inaugural Exhibition, Virginia Beach Committee for Public Art,
Virginia Beach, VA
1980 82nd Fellowship Exhibition, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
1979 30th New England Exhibition, Silvermine Guild of Artists, New Canaan, CT
1979 Virginia Artists 27th Biennial, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA
1978 153rd Annual Exhibition, National Academy of Design, New York, NY
1978 81st Fellowship Exhibition, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
1978 36th Annual Exhibition, Audubon Artists, New York, NY
1978 29th New England Exhibition, Silvermine Guild of Artists, New Canaan, CT
1978 42nd Annual Midyear Exhibition, Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH
1977 66th Annual Exhibition, Texas Fine Arts Association, Laguna Gloria Art Museum, Austin, TX
1977 25th Annual Exhibition, Audubon Artists, New York, NY
1977 41st Annual Midyear Exhibition, Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH
1976 40th Annual Midyear Exhibition, Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown. OH
1975 33rd Annual Exhibition, Audubon Artists, New York, NY

Bibliography:

65th National Midyear Exhibition, Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH, 2001.
A Survey of Contemporary American Realism, Posco Gallery, Seoul, South Korea, 1996.

Awards/Honors:

1979 Distinguished Artist Award, Virginia Artists 27th Biennial, Virginia Museum of Fine Art,
Richmond, VA

Selected Collections:

Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ
American Republic Insurance Company
Caravan Products, Totowa, NJ
Mobil Oil Company
AMOCO
United Airlines
Siemens Telecommunications, United States Headquarters
Chubb Realty