V1 proudly presents Super Fortress
A solo exhibition by Richard Colman for the first time in Europe
Richard Colman, 30, from Silver Springs, Maryland, lives and works in California. He has in a short amount of time become one of the most celebrated artists on the young American art scene.
Colman's strange and surreal paitings resemble a narnia-esque wardrobe leading into a mythical and melancholic realm inhabited by victorian men and women, hooded minions, baroque skeletons, humble bears and regal lions.
Super Fortress is a detailed and symbolic jumble of religion and sex, life and death. Colman's sombre and humoristic line depicts the secret fears and fervors lurking in the corners of the enigmatic human mind. Mexican burial parties, roman cult orgies, victorian puranism and egyptian iconography are all poetic paraphernilia in Colman's toolbox.
Edward Gorey's gloomy gothical illustrations, Henry Darger's twisted tales and re-interpreted traditional folk art are all strong elements in Colman's art - the latter a tendency characterizing a large part of the emerging and dominating young American art scene.
Richard Colman has illustrated numerous books and has exhibited all over the world, both solo eg. Merry Karnowsky in LA, and in ground breaking group shows eg. Royal Elastic (USA), Street Wise (UK) and MOCA D.C. (USA) with Dalek, Stephen Powers, Mike Giant and NEWA. In the beginning of the new year a book on Richard Colman's artistic career, The Art of Richard Colman, will be published.
