Richard Colman is well known for his paintings of colorful human figures bending and twisting into abstract compositions. Featured here on our blog, Colman’s new works explore the intricacies and curiosities of human relationships in bold and geometric displays. Similar to the frontalism style seen in Egyptian art, the heads of his figures are usually drawn in profile, while the body is seen from the front. The San Francisco based artist recently exhibited in the rotating Los Angeles exhibition curated by Roger Gastman, “W.I.P.” (Work in Progress), which closed over the holiday. The works in that exhibit are part of a new series where the artist reprises positions and motifs that we saw in his last solo exhibition, “Faces, Figures, Places, and Things” at San Francisco’s Chandran Gallery. These include figures of male and female nudes wrapping around eachother as they balance bleeding decapitated heads and candelabras with multi-colored flames. Though Colman’s paintings employ cheery colors and are aesthetically beautiful, the actions of his characters suggest that something more sinister is brewing. Other recent pieces, such as his painting created for the group show “Form is Not Different From Emptiness” at Left Field Gallery in San Luis Obispo, combine his signature color-blocking palette with metallic colors in silver, while another reiteration of the same piece uses gold, on view in V1 Gallery’s “13” exhibit in Copenhagen. Take a look at more from Richard Colman below.
Paintings by Richard Colman, on view at “W.I.P.” (Work in Progress).
Richard Colman, detail
Richard Colman, detail
For the majority of his illustration career, Canadian artist 
Oakland based painter 
Portland based artist 
Miami based artist