Richard Hambleton
Richard Hambleton (born June, 1952) is an artist-painter currently living and working in the Lower East Side of New York City. In addition to earlier work, Richard Hambleton is also remembered as one of the major artists, who, along with Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat, had great success coming out of the New York City art scene during the booming art market of the 1980's.[1]
Hambleton is most famous for his "Shadowman" paintings of the early 1980's. Each painting resembles a life-sized silhouetted image of some mysterious person. These "shadow paintings" were splashed and brushed with black paint on buildings and other structures across New York City. [2] Hambleton painted these "shadowmen" in other cities too, including Paris,[3] and perhaps even on the Berlin Wall.[4] Although compared to graffiti art, Richard Hambleton considers this work "public art". [5]
Richard Hambleton's other public art includes his Image Mass Murder concept. From 1976 to 1979, Hambleton would paint the police "chalk" outline around bodies of volunteer "homicide victims." He would then splash some red paint on the outline, leaving behind a realistic looking crime scene. These "crime scenes" were done on the streets of several major cities across the world.[6] Like the "Shadowman" paintings, the Image Mass Murder crime scenes would often have the effect of startling or shocking passersby.
In addition to his public art, Richard Hambleton's paintings have been shown all over the world in galleries and museums, including paintings on canvas and paper of his "shadow" work.[7] Hambleton's artwork was represented in the Venice Biennale in both 1984 and 1988. [8]
Hambleton's most recent work is entitled "Beautiful Paintings," wherein he uses transparent paint on a metallic leaf background in order to reflect the light and color back to the viewer, again involving the viewer's imagination as part of the piece. [9]
- ^ http://www.smokesignalsmag.com/2/hambletonpalaia.htm Franc Palaia article 'art star'
- ^ http://hankonealphoto.com/shadowman.html Shadowman photos by photographer Hank O'Neal
- ^ http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Hambleton picture of shadow painting in Paris
- ^ http://www.graffiti.org/berlin/berlin_3.html Berlin Wall photographs
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1np72O2vJe0
- ^ http://www.ccca.ca/c/writing/d/dewdney/dew001t.html Vanguard article written by Christopher Dewdney May 1982
- ^ http://www.artnet.com/Artists/ArtistHomePage.aspx?artist_id=7718&page_tab=Bio_and_links Richard Hambleton on Artnet
- ^ http://www.artnet.com/Galleries/Exhibitions.asp?gid=1140&cid=122435
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1np72O2vJe0
External links