“For me, the city is not a blank canvas. It is an image; a film that contains sociological and psychological elements. My urban work is added and becomes part of that image … the blank canvas is in the studio I give it definition, I work within its perimeters – I paint the whole picture … “
Richard Hambleton appeared in his first European solo show since 1985, at the Armani Teatro in Milan, Via Bergognone 59. The show opened in February 2010 with a brilliant event that was attended by many personalities. Roberta Armani, Giorgio Armani, Andy Valmorbida, Vladimir Restoin Roitfeld, Clive Owen, Lapo Elkann, Mario Testino, Carine Roitfeld, Tatiana Santo Domingo, Eugenie & Stavros Niarchos, Bianca Brandolini, Eva Riccobono, Matteo Ceccarini, Francesca Versace, Margherinita Missioni, Roitfeld, Matilde Borromeo were present among photographers and selected guests and journalists.
The exhibition was curated by Vladimir Restoin Roitfeld and Andy Valmorbida. Roitfeld’s art dealer, Feedback Ltd. works with emerging talents, giving them the opportunity to sell their art. The show was at Armani Teatro, Via Bergognone 59 (near Porta Genova station).
It was a great event. The place is made of exposed concrete, massive spaces that are made surprisingly warm by clever lighting. It is eminently suitable for an exhibition of this type, dramatic and often large works. Waiters circulated delicious appetizers placed on black trays, which included a bright white and towels (black, of course). The photographers present were quite discreet and the event had an atmosphere of discreet and assured luxury.
Richard Hambleton, born in Vancouver, Canada, in 1954, is one of the three great American Expressionist street artists, along with Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring. He was the first to make his mark in the serious art world. Today he is the only survivor, and this cannot be attributed to a quiet lifestyle. He was as self-destructive as anyone of that volatile generation, but he was capable, in addition to surviving, of continuing to work and gradually evolving his style. Marcia Resnick said of Hambleton: “His life was so awash in blood. Shooting himself all the time. He was addicted to disorder. I couldn’t hide it with him.” At the time, Hambleton was making small, square paintings, on canvases glued to wooden blocks, covered with gold leaf and overlaid with patterns in dark red. His own blood.
From 1976 to 1979, Hambleton’s “Mass Murder” installations were placed on the streets of more than 15 cities. They reproduced the chalk body outlines and blood splatters of violent crime. (Some of these have been added to the streets of Milan in the vicinity of the gallery.) “With Mass Murder something had happened. Someone was killed on the sidewalk, ”he says. “But with Shadow’s work, you walked around the corner and saw someone at a door. There was someone there. He was very direct. Like Richard Serra in a way. He was very direct and very immediate.” In the early 1980s, he began the “Shadowman” series, dark, splattered monochrome paintings – silhouettes painted on the walls of New York and elsewhere. His Shadowmen accompanied him when he traveled through Asia and Europe in the mid-1980s. When he returned to the United States in the 1990s, he began another style of work, “The Beautiful Paintings.” These are really this, particularly compared to his previous work, because he uses silver and gold leaf to create a luminous background, on top of which he lays layers of pure-colored enamels with a resinous transparency.
Hambleton himself has said: “My beautiful paintings are not landscapes, seascapes or rainy landscapes, they are escapes.” It was a difficult time for him. His gigantic collection of works by Haring and Basquiat, acquired through swaps with his own works, were sold when he was unable to make payments to a warehousing company. He was homeless and transferred his survival instincts to the streets.
Today, Richard Hambleton continues to work in the neighborhood where he has lived for more than 30 years.