Sam Richardson

During Sam Richardson’s residency at Aurobora, the artist produced three distinct series of monotypes imbued with autobiographical references.  A group of mixed-media monotypes on heavy handmade pulp paper has as a central image a house aflame. These works were printed on handmade pulp paper and then collaged with different superimposed elements – screen, twigs, wood, a tag – underscoring a particular narrative corresponding to the central image.

Another series was inspired by the artist’s childhood memories.  In this body of work, Richardson depicts a façade of a house, at time definitively rendered, other times subtle, almost dreamlike in its execution.  Several of these monotypes incorporate chine colle elements as well as feathers (and impressions of feathers) that act as touchstones to a time past.

A final set of monotypes Richardson completed during his residency elicit the distinct experiences of camping.  Tents, campfires, and blue coffee pots appear in these works, lending these prints an instant familiarity like the smell of woodsmoke.

AUROBORA PROJECT

July / August 1993

SELECTED COLLECTIONS

Boehm Gallery, Palomar College, San Marcos, California;  College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, CA; E. B. Crocker Art Gallery, Sacramento, CA; Dallas Museum of Fine Art, Dallas, TX; Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO; M.H. deYoung Memorial Museum, San Francisco, CA.; Elvehjem Art Center, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI; Fort Worth Art Center, Fort Worth, TX; Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN; Milwaukee Art Center, Wilwaukee, WI; Oakland Museum, Oakland, CA; Pomer Instititute of Fine Arts, Univ. of Sydney, Australia; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA; San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA; Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, University of Nebraska; Smithsonian Institution – Hirshhorn Museum; Smithsonian Institution – National Museum of American Art; Whitney Museum of American Art