RICHARD ALDRICH

Aldrich’s work is grounded in a longstanding commitment to innovation within his practice. Over the last twenty years, he has developed a visual language that deftly navigates the binaries in abstract and figurative forms while teetering between the conceptual and the physical properties in his mark- making. Meaning arises from the interplay between the work’s materially rich surface and the cultural and autobiographical allusions that he weaves into his compositions. Aldrich’s distinctive painterly touch is characterised by his material experimentations with oils and wax, varying degrees of solvents, and the application of found objects to his surfaces. The intricately worked layers present a nonlinear narrative reiterating the work’s potential for interpretation and offering insight into Aldrich’s world. The artist’s references span a wide array of influences, from art history and popular culture, to video games and science fiction. Articulating the breadth of the artist’s wide spanning interests, the paintings in this exhibition resist easy categorisation. Altogether, Aldrich’s work reveals compelling visual and thematic fluidity across the boundaries of perception, conjuring discernible references alongside intangible ideas such as memory and time to present an interconnected network of possibilities.

Richard Aldrich (b. 1975, Hampton, Virginia) lives and works in New York. Aldrich has been the subject of solo exhibitions at institutions including Fondazione Giuliani, Rome (2022); Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Deurle, Belgium (2016); the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, California (2011); and the Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis (2011). Aldrich has been included in group exhibitions at notable institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan; Centro Galego de Arte Contemporánea, Santiago de Compostela, Spain; the Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, Ohio; and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Busan, South Korea. Aldrich’s work is in the public collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, California; the Dallas Museum of Art, Texas; the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, United Kingdom; Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C., and the National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan.