For Immediate Release
Susan Richardson Solo Exhibit at ArtVentures Gallery in Menlo Park, CA
August 15 – September 18, 2018
ArtVentures Gallery today announced a solo exhibit by award-winning artist Susan Richardson. The gallery will be showing her current body of work inspired by The Great Gatsby and Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The exhibit is called “Whispered Conversations and Broken Dreams.”
Richardson makes paintings with lush paint and collage that combines hand-lettering and printed text in bold, colorful canvases. The paintings express the universal stories and emotions of Fitzgerald’s world of attainment and longing that resonate in our own time. Like Fitzgerald’s layering of stories, Richardson’s work is layered and complex. Some layers are bold, some delicate; some are covered over and some peeled back to reveal deeper layers. Like life, each piece displays a messy richness and a thoughtful, underlying harmony. They are punctuated with graphic representations that both startle and engage the viewer.
Many of the pieces in the exhibit are large and dramatic. The color palettes, shapes and choices of fonts and gestural writing are carefully selected to portray a particular passage by Fitzgerald. “Whispered Conversations Under Beach Umbrellas” reflects the hot, Riviera sun of Tender is the Night. “Frosted Wedding Cake Ceiling” conjures the grandeur of Tom and Daisy’s mansion in East Egg in The Great Gatsby. As the exhibit’s title suggests, beneath the glamour and luxury, throbs a yearning for something more. Of the 20 pieces in the exhibit, the sizes range from the largest diptych at 60” x 84” to mid-range pieces at 36”x 48” and a small 12” x 12” collection.
Susan Richardson was born and raised in New York, growing up in the town generally considered to be the West Egg of The Great Gatsby. She has studied art, calligraphy, lettering arts, and literature over the past 40 years, receiving a Post Baccalaureate Certificate in Visual Arts from U.C. Berkeley Extension and a Ph.D. in Language and Literacy from U.C. Berkeley. She lives and works in Tracy, California.
Regarding this show, Richardson says, “I’m grateful to share this work that I feel so connected to. Creating this work reminds me that, no matter how appealing, all the expensive and glamorous people, places and things don’t satisfy the need that drives us from the inside. Creating this body of work did that for me.”
The ArtVentures Gallery’s mission is to create an opportunity for art lovers to collect the new and the miraculous. Located in the very center of Silicon Valley, Art Ventures serves as a crucible of innovation, investment, and the arts. Katherina Powers, the gallery’s director and curator said of this exhibit, “Susan Richardson’s exhibit offers a unique and poetic merging of art, literature and the written word. It is powerful and subtle, delicate and bold, harkening back to a defining era and its reimagining in timeless literature. Every painting reveals a passionate and tender world of its own.”
Art Ventures Gallery is located at 888 Santa Cruz Avenue, Menlo Park, CA 94025
The gallery open Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from noon to 6 pm, Friday and Saturday from 10 am – 6 pm, closed Sundays & Mondays. Artwork can also be seen by appointment. Please call 650-400-5325 or email info@artventuresgallery.com
Susan Richardson may be reached by email at susan@susanrichardson.com