Richard Aldrich (artist)

Aldrich received his BFA degree from the Ohio State University in 1999.^[2]

Although mostly abstract and casual, Aldrich's paintings also betray a distinctly literary sensibility, even as he targets what he has called the essential "unworldliness of experience." Snippets of text and random words-UFO, the numeral 4-appear as decals or pencil scrawls, while lines incised with the back of a brush suggest writing once removed. Taciturn pictures carry evocative and ungainly verbal appendages in the form of elliptical press releases or titles like Large Obsessed with Hector Guimard, 2008, a nod to the architect of Paris's Art Nouveau metro stations, or If I Paint Crowned I've Had It, Got Me, 2008, a telling paraphrase of Cézanne explaining he would be ruined if he tried to paint the "crowned" effect of a still life rather than the thing itself.^[3]

Aldrich's work encompasses a wide range of imagery, from richly textured abstractions in oil and wax to a primed canvas featuring a line written by British psychiatrist Henry Maudsley in 1918. This diverse imagery is complemented by Aldrich's natural interventions in the physical aspects of his paintings, such as cutting the canvas to create pockets or reveal the stretcher bars. He integrates his personal history and the human inclination to organize information through the formal language of painting, blending various artistic styles with humor and irreverence. Writer Raphael Rubinstein has linked him to the Provisional Painting movement, and he was featured in the 2010 Whitney Biennial. Aldrich's exhibitions highlight the shifting states from one piece to the next, reflecting his dynamic and evolving approach to art.^[4]

Richard Aldrich is represented by Gladstone Gallery,^[5] galerie dépendance,^[6] and Misako & Rosen.^[7]