Art & Critique » Alvin Richard

Alvin Richard: Still Life with Coca-Cola

elijah — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 23:14:31 +0000

Often the message of a commercial advertisement contains a fundamental truth — people wouldn’t be tempted to consume advertised products if it wasn’t so. We may feel uneasy about the intermarriage of commercialism with our lives, with being tagged as “target audience” and so on but then, our lifestyle depends on it. Deprecation of consumerism in prosperous nations has long ago turned into righteous blathering lacking any real plan in dealing with the phenomenon. What we need, I believe, is a proactive reflection and actions that interpret and study the trend, not words. Alvin Richard does his part by examining how that basic human urge to seek pleasure and enjoyment, mixed with the secret Coca-Cola ingredients, stands the test of his brush.

At the first glance we see a remarkable replication of the bottles and the insignia; it acknowledges the advertisement’s power, not without some admiration, and in a way pays tribute to the corporation, at least for the mere courtesy of providing a painting theme. At this stage the idea of business holds its ground, and the paintings may be seen as an exceptionally artistic extension of the commercials. However, after a more careful viewing we notice how pure aesthetic begins to overpower its source; gradually visual effects overshadow the written message. It collides with an iceberg of reflected light and sinks in an ocean of sparkles, to lay forlorn on a seabed of bright red. A Titanic indeed.

Eventually the artist reinforces the boundary between the natural experience of aesthetic appreciation and its artificial commercial exploitation, no matter how sophisticated. Where business blurs, art distinguishes. On a different note, I find that these pieces hold the potential to explode, just like a coca-cola bottle opened after a few shakes. During the two stages the artist shakes ideas, only to show how incompatible (like the red sign near the piece of sky) they can be. In a somewhat ironical finish, he directs the paintings at the viewer, contradictory to the instructions for use usually printed on the bottles’ label. Art, unlike carbonated beverages, explodes only metaphorically.

On the other hand, this is not a call for revolution, but a careful, even stoic study of the current state of events. By his creative effort the artist repackages commercial ideas and presents them to the public again, but on his own terms. He doesn’t offer false hope, reveling in the idea of regaining lost innocence — and there is nothing sarcastic about these paintings. Rather, he buoys the issue with a reserved attitude and gently reminds us that just as the pleasure derived from watching still life can transcend the subject, the pleasure of life can overcome any commercial purpose that tries to abduct it.

Alvin Richard: Scenes with Children

elijah — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 22:26:48 +0000

These contemplative pieces conjoin portraits with detailed scenery into felicitous combinations. Compositional harmony transcends into an atmospheric psychic quality, where calm and confidence interlock and create tight and streamlined mental images of peace, and faith into what the future portends. We directly witness the artist’s interest in subtle psychological exploration, covert in still life due to the absence of human subjects. In some ways, people from the audience were the “models” for the florals, literally subjected to strong light effects; here the artist abandons drastic contrasts to make room for the children, and draw some general conclusions from the way they blend with their surroundings.

Motion is the underlying theme of these paintings. All three incorporate a kind of a vehicle: a car, a bicycle or a swing, which may be viewed as a vehicle for having fun, deftly utilized by the girl. Wheels, though out of the frame, allow for the movement. The swing may theoretically describe a full circle, but it seems as though the girl would rather catapult herself into the air. Safety precautions — seat belts, a helmet a the girl’s grip reassure the worried parent in the viewer. The children are positioned to experience the primitive pleasure of fast movement, some with the comfortable padding modern civilization and technology provide. The artist, on the other hand, takes the role of the observer of their reactions.

The artist studies their responses with an approach that mixes anthropological interest with empathy. He strives to find the right proportion, as being too scientific and detached may translate into cold interpretations whereas too endearing rendering may be just as repellent for its sentimentality. To my mind, he finds his golden ratio in the context of these paintings as a series. Levels of sophistication — from a simple swing, towards a mechanical apparatus and concluding with a car explain the increasing disaffection imprinted on the protagonist’s faces. The pleasure of spontaneity gives way to discontent with artificial jerky progression; movement evolves, and so does the psychological reaction.

The teenage girl, trapped in the car and bridled by the belt sits with a sour face, looking out of the window as if with a quiet rebuke. The boy rests upon his bike in an uncomfortable posture while the swinging girl enjoys herself to the full. The artist follows his subjects and creates a series that convey the short history of human civilization. I find the idea not only entertaining, but also inspirational. Have you unlearned to enjoy life? Look at the laughing girl and her effortless balance, and learn again! Do you cherish some ideals no longer relevant, like Christopher McCandless did? Drive a car for a while, and don’t forget to put on your seat belt. Ride a bicycle if you are somewhere in between… and it’s good for your legs too.

Alvin Richard: Florals

elijah — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 22:48:40 +0000

Alvin Richard (visit his website and blog) is a Canadian self taught artist who paints still life, urban and outdoor scenes with exuberant optimism and such an unflinching energy and directness as to unveil before the viewer a bonanza of life’s sparkling possibilities. As a skillful photorealist, he renders transparent and metallic objects with meticulous accuracy — but they are rarely the focus of his paintings. To produce multi-layered, sometimes labyrinth compositions he assembles areas of color, arranging them in geometrically complex structures, not without a hint of the abstract. Light shines through these transformations as the unifying force that binds all elements together into pulsating and vibrant works of art, such as these florals

Light splashes the flowers, filling every millimeter, where it lands, to the brim. It seems as though they receive a second life, and, in a way, compromise the constraints of their “morte” situation, and of genre itself. And that, in this case, is a good thing. There is not a trace of a compromise, however, in the general palette scheme: the deep black backdrop and the intensely lit zones generate an almost palpable tension. As a consequence, the illusion of the third dimension receives a supernatural impulse. My guess is that the time of day in these (two) pieces is noon; light can be uncomfortably blinding and migraine inducing, aggressively accentuating every contrast. It takes the delicacy of the petals and the green softness of the stems, which consume the light, to counter that effect.

Thus the flowers soften the initial shock — they could be compared to the aftereffect of colorful patterns we see when closing our eyes after being blinded with a sudden beam. With eyes “reopened” we are confronted with a bright blossom — the artist is careful to define a robust focal point which draws the viewer back into the painting. It is then when the compositions gradually reveal themselves: a corner of a white fence, a patch of grass, a brilliant glass surface, a window frame and, of course, the vases. Some of these objects and surfaces contain and conceal more objects and more surfaces. A bee on a flower. Another window behind the window… Looking at Alvin’s paintings is a process, and it is marked with discoveries.

Eventually, the generosity of light, find detail and the compositional diversity mould that optimistic and uplifting spirit that, if I may say so, becomes the moral backbone of the artist’s style. Some of his other paintings include people, particularly children; youth and the willful urge for discovery find their way into still life as well. Within that context, the division of space into layers and separate areas of color may serve as an allegory for future and the steps taken towards it. We all live through dark streaks, but it is the bright ones that make the whole experience worthwhile, the artist reminds us.

Art & Critique » Alvin Richard

Alvin Richard: Still Life with Coca-Cola

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Alvin Richard: Scenes with Children

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Alvin Richard: Florals

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