RICHARD W. CHRISTIAN II- ARTIST'S STATEMENT
GODS AND MONSTERS
Gods and monsters from literature and mythology do populate my work, but these are not illustrations of well-worn stories; these are the archetypal gods that still live in all of us, though often suppressed through the ceremonies of our modern existence.
The contemporary world seems presently consumed with social fashions, the acceptable aggregate, supported by the ephemeral trends of social media; art about art- false irony, always a bit too self aware of its place in the current zeitgeist. Just as sleep provides a respite from our digitally enhanced, media obsessed, communications-driven world, I try to provide the same oasis of mood and feeling in my work and hope to keep that experience open to any who would care to join me. I do not want to take the viewer to a predetermined destination. Like the artists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, I explore the self as a lens to a deeper vision of the world around me, and my place in it. To this end, I try to avoid the limitations of illustrating literal word based language systems and use instead the symbols of my unconscious and perhaps collective unconscious, allowing them to come to me as if in a dream; not immediately understanding their import until I develop them, slowly and deliberately. In letting them come to life and inform me as I foster their growth, and in so doing, my own, I invite my audience to complete that circuit even as I do, and hope that they can find a quiet place to contemplate themselves, free from the noise of the crowd.
Richard W. Christian
Gods and monsters from literature and mythology do populate my work, but these are not illustrations of well-worn stories; these are the archetypal gods that still live in all of us, though often suppressed through the ceremonies of our modern existence.
The contemporary world seems presently consumed with social fashions, the acceptable aggregate, supported by the ephemeral trends of social media; art about art- false irony, always a bit too self aware of its place in the current zeitgeist. Just as sleep provides a respite from our digitally enhanced, media obsessed, communications-driven world, I try to provide the same oasis of mood and feeling in my work and hope to keep that experience open to any who would care to join me. I do not want to take the viewer to a predetermined destination. Like the artists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, I explore the self as a lens to a deeper vision of the world around me, and my place in it. To this end, I try to avoid the limitations of illustrating literal word based language systems and use instead the symbols of my unconscious and perhaps collective unconscious, allowing them to come to me as if in a dream; not immediately understanding their import until I develop them, slowly and deliberately. In letting them come to life and inform me as I foster their growth, and in so doing, my own, I invite my audience to complete that circuit even as I do, and hope that they can find a quiet place to contemplate themselves, free from the noise of the crowd.
Richard W. Christian
Image Courtesy of David Moog, 2016.