WILLY BO RICHARDSON: NAVIGATION
Richard Levy Gallery
April 20 – May 25, 2018
Reception: Saturday May 12, 6 – 8pm
Richard Levy Gallery celebrates the accession of Willy Bo Richardson’s Number 1, 1999 to the permanent collection of the Albuquerque Museum of Art and History. The painting is featured in Richardson’s solo exhibition Navigation.
About the Painting
Richardson states:
“My Number 1 was a great intuitive leap against the backdrop of New York intellectualism in the late 90’s which had declared “painting is dead”. I felt like I lived in a culture of no unified tradition for painting, or that the tradition had become the end, or deconstruction of tradition. I simply longed for a system in which I could grow and better myself with the grace and freedom of contemporary thought, while retaining a respect for improving on an objective craft. Craft in this case, being proportion, elements of composition and rules of beauty in their most simplified forms. I needed a first step, a first atomic structure, a first declaration in relation to history and natural wonder. This was my number 1. I had chills of excitement all the while a centered calm while making this painting. I cannot fully express how much joy I felt… like meeting a long lost family member for the first time.”
Albuquerque Museum
The Albuquerque Museum’s art collection features artists living in or influenced by the region and includes masterworks by Georgia O’Keeffe, Raymond Jonson, Fritz Scholder, and Jaune Quick-to-See Smith.
The Solo exhibition at Richard Levy Gallery Navigation will also feature fabric and wallcovering materials from my collaboration with Designtex.
Richard Levy Gallery
514 Central Ave SW | Albuquerque NM 87102
Tuesday – Saturday, 11:00 am – 4:00 pm
Albuquerque Museum
2000 Mountain Road NW
Albuquerque NM 87104
The Richard Levy Gallery Program
Founded in 1991 in downtown Albuquerque, NM, Richard Levy Gallery fosters a mission to support cutting-edge artists in all media. The gallery shows six exhibitions per year and participates in selected art fairs.
The Gallery is also an active publisher of contemporary prints and multiples. The artists whose work we have published includes Thomas Barrow, James Casebere, Stanley Greenberg, David Levinthal, Wes Mills, Robert ParkeHarrison, Dean Bienvenido Ramos, Lorna Simpson, Lisa Solomon, Richard Tuttle, and Tom Waldron.
Other projects include co-productions with the Albuquerque Museum. This citywide exhibition features, On The Map, Unfolding Albuquerque Art + Design (2015), as well as the International Symposium on Electronic Art (2012). The gallery also works with organizations for the statewide exhibit, Land/Art (2009).
Recent exhibitions of Willy Bo Richardson at Richard Levy Gallery and representation in national art fairs include:
Texas Contemporary art fair 2014
Miami Project 2014, Art Basel Miami
2014 Exhibition: That’s Where You Need to Be
Solo Exhibition 2015: Clockwork for Oracles
Seattle Art Fair 2015
Art on Paper 2016, New York City
Art Market San Francisco 2015
Congratulations, Willy! It’s a beautiful painting. I love that it felt like meeting a long-lost family member. Wonderful.
Congratulations Willy!!! You so deserve it after all your perseverance and gifted hard work. Great to run into you today. May the blessings continue to come your way easily.
It’s a long and winding path isn’t it? Thank you so much for your support!