Hailing from the DC area and now residing in LA, Colman has just held an amazing solo show at the White Walls gallery here in San Francisco. Fostered on hardcore and Graffiti, he has shown around the world up and down the culture divide from the MOCA in DC to the "skater bar" Max Fish in NYC. We've been a fan of his work for some time now and are very pleased to have him up on the site. Sp without further ado, we present this short interview with Richard Colman.
Age? Location?
30. Right now I split my time between Los Angeles and San Francisco.
What materials do you generally use to create your work?
I'm using mostly guache and ink right now, but in the past I've used mostly
Water colour and ink.
Your current show that's up right now at White Walls in SF is fantastic!
Was there an overall theme/idea for the show?
Thank you so much john, I'm really glad you liked it.
Well the idea for the ghost sort of started out because my paintings tend to
Have a lot of the old sketches on the panels before I finally get to the
Image that I like and they have a ghost-like quality to them. Then as I
Thought more about the title the ghost, I started to think about some of my
Own feelings of being detached from my life, physically there but not really
Present, you know? I have become increasingly busier in the past few years
So I've been feeling sort of like I have been disappearing from my own life,
So the show sort of has a lot to do with that I guess.
The characters in this set of paintings are sort of being swallowed up by
The compositions, even becoming the composition. The end result represents
The transition or metamorphosis of the character, changing into something
Completely different from what they physically are.
What's your average routine? When do you find that you work best? Time
of day/ mood/ music/ etc...
Usually i just get up have some coffee, come down to the studio, and get some
More coffee and start working. It usually will take me a little bit to get
Going but generally after about an hour or two i will hit a good stride and
I'll just go with it as long as it lasts some times all night. As far as
Music, at the moment I'm going back and forth between the wings anthology and
Burzum's det som engang var.
If I was to come to LA (I think that's where you live) for a visit,
where would you take me/ what would we do? What are some of your favorite
spots down there? Galleries? Food?
Well the LA MOCA tends to have pretty good stuff going on. I saw the skin +
Bones show there a while back which showed the parallels between fashion and
Architecture - it was pretty rad and i think they have some good stuff coming
Up. The Kent Williams show at Merry Karnowsky is pretty amazing. James
Marshall's last show there was pretty mind blowing as well. The Andy
Schoultz show at Roberts and Tilton looks rad and I always like to go by New Image Art, Marsea always has interesting stuff going on.
My new favorite place to eat, although , I guess it's not all that new, is
Magnolia which has a totally irritating Hollywood atmosphere but there is
Patio seating out back away from all that and all the food is amazing. Other
Than that I'm pretty much at the studio, home or the occasional movie.
I read that you did a mural for Coca Cola. What was that about? What did
it look like?
Hahaha... They were just large scale reproductions of children's drawings.
They were pretty cute and we actually did a shit load of them. It was a good
Way to make money while I was in school.
When I'm not creating work, I can be found (insert here).
Hhhmmm... I don't know really, I guess the next time I won't be working will
Be Sunday and I will probably go to the flea market and maybe some estate
Sales with my girlfriend, jump in the water at ocean beach and have bim bim
Bop, that sounds like a good plan, and then maybe do some work on our new
Apartment and try my best not to obsess about painting the whole day.
How long have you lived in LA and how did you get there?
I've been on the west coast for about three years now. I moved out from new
York in, I guess 2005. It was just time for a change and I was doing most of
My shows and stuff out here so it seemed as good a place as any to move.
What are you really excited about right now?
I have about a week more work to do on a few paintings I'm trying to finish
Up for some art fairs in Europe so I'm looking forward to getting those done
And maybe taking a vacation for a week or so with my girlfriend, maybe down
To Mexico again, we like it down there.
You've shown a lot around the world. Which city/ gallery were you most
excited about?
Well, of course, the show here at White Walls was amazing, it was really a
lot of fun putting it together and working with Andres and every one else at
the gallery. It's been a great experience and i look forward to getting to
work with them again. And working with V1 gallery in Copenhagen has truly
been amazing. They have really been doing a lot to get my stuff to the next
level and every experience I have with them is better than the last. They
are a super great group of people over there and im really looking forward
to my show with them in April.
Some photos from Richard's opening at White Walls... If you're in SF, be sure to check out the show in person before it comes down on Oct 6th, 2006.
///////// Congratulations on your recent show! Great body of work, love the color and subject matter. Your narrative structure and invention are refreshing. Keep up the great work.
///////// I saw your stuff in print awhile back and thought it was pretty interesting, but after seeing it in person at this show... I was into it sooo much more. nice. Written by FMF on 2007-09-24 21:49:32
///////// d.c. yeeeass Written by yourtheprism on 2007-09-25 03:01:29
///////// This is some killer work.love the composition and layout and love the wonderful shapes. I love fecal face,it's been a wonderful site for me to browse through some cool DIY's and studio visits and interviews and it's very inspirational too.Esp form where i come from(Dubai),being an internatinal growing metropolitan, the art scene out here is very dry and a tad bit too serious.As a graphic artist i personally think the art scene's quite the drag out here at my end.tsk tsk i say to myself.hopefully things shall change.But nevertheless love what FF has to offer good work guys.peace!
Vivek. Written by whitespace on 2007-09-25 09:08:01
///////// genial Written by anita on 2007-09-25 10:51:20
///////// yes yes this work shows an absolute evolution Written by eatcho on 2007-09-26 11:46:34
///////// good man......burzums some good stuff. Written by magishcock on 2007-09-27 14:09:06
///////// amazing. Written by ccassidyiknow on 2007-09-30 20:04:29
///////// Unbelievably inspiring, refreshing, blah blah tons of other adjectives....
just thanks for getting me excited. Written by cheapsunglasses on 2007-10-05 12:44:11
///////// this work looks sooo much like keegan mchargue's circa 2003 to 2005. i get that work like this will still sell, especially in places like san francisco. but it's anything but fresh and original. it's formulaic and i'm sad it's taking up space. check jack hanley and deitch (dirt wizard's show) for some examples of keegan's work. Written by chloe on 2007-10-10 19:44:47
///////// ha, its so funny to me that people think this is GOOD ART. its a combination of everything thats been going on for the last 5 years. i will also agree with chloe..it totally looks like some way out dated keegan work=) Written by whatever on 2007-11-09 10:29:14
///////// Did you really just put a smile emoticon at the end of that last comment. Man, I just don't get people sometimes. It appears to me that Richard and Keegan came up in the gallery scene at the same time and Richard's show was so sick in person. The quality of medium application was really great. Finally, can we get some more bikini pictures in the Hamptons on this Fecal especially for "whatever." Written by onethousandohms on 2007-11-09 12:09:31
///////// yessir. Written by Yelizaveta on 2008-01-11 14:11:42
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"but i vote for #22 !" //
