V1 Gallery presents
Spider Dream
A solo exhibition by Richard Colman
Awakening from an anxiety filled dream and feeling discomposed. Realizing the dream was not a dream, but a very real reflection of self, culture, country and a world in a radical state of flux. Paintings composing themselves in response to this state of emergency. Unable to restrain the works’ narrative compositions, Richard Colman gave in to channelling the surreal in Spider Dream. Fragmented and fluid compositions where beasts and humans congregate dissolve in each other and resurface as colours and geometrical shapes. Owl-like creatures with weary and worried eyes, sprouting multi coloured spider web patchwork plumage, occupy compositional equilibriums. In other paintings, human forms transcend to abstraction, leaving the figures for incorporeal existence in colour and space. Multi-faced figures, humanoid snakes, shape-shifters, and flower-growing-heads in dense formations all contribute to an eerie and restless sensation. Many of the new works juxtapose chaos and order as compositional metaphors for the current human co¬¬ndition. Feelings of uncertainty, hope, pressure, fear, disbelief, sadness, empathy and rage co-exist in this body of work, created over the duration of the past eight months. The backdrop for the exhibition, needs no introduction, we live it. Depending on gender, race, religion, geographical placement it will be a radically different experience, but together we share a polarized and unpredictable future on the brink of collapse.
Spider Dream is an emotional artistic response to existence in uncertain times, where the act of creating, or even articulating, can feel futile. Richard Colman’s new body of work engages the distress felt by many, from personal experience, but with a universal perspective. Turning apathy into resilient resistance.
Richard Colman's, born 1976, Maryland, America, work is known for blending figurative imagery and bold geometry. Typically using complex compositions, Colman explores themes of human sexuality, societal hierarchies, life and death. His work ranges from small to large-scale paintings, murals and installations. Colman currently lives and works in San Francisco and on a farm converted to a large-scale studio in rural Connecticut. He has exhibited extensively in Europe and America. Spider Dream is Colman’s fifth solo exhibition with V1 Gallery.
