December 1 – 30, 2022 –
DAVID-RICHARD GALLERY –
NEW YORK, NY –
David Richard Gallery presented Optical, Shaped and Color Abstractions, Paintings: 1963 – 1965 by Ronald Davis in December, 2022 in his first solo exhibition with the Gallery and first solo exhibition in New York since the presentation of his 1960s Monochrome Paintings at Franklin Parrasch Gallery in 2010.
This presentation featured eight early hard-edge abstract paintings (1963 to 1965), all acrylic on canvas, most made in San Francisco or Pasadena, CA studios; and four drawings in ink or graphite on mylar or paper (1966, 1975 and 1977). The works together show Davis’s early study of and fascination with perspective, illusory space and opticality. Davis stated, “I set up tensions in my paintings: between the flatness of the canvas and the illusion of the depicted abstract objects; between the painterly and the hard edge; between color and color; between light and shadow. These paintings attempt to probe the dimensions of time and space, while not existing in time at all, the whole artwork being viewable in an instant.”
– From the exhibition notes by David-Richard Gallery
Wave, 1964.
95.25 x 69.75 x 1.25 inches. Acrylic on canvas.
Green-Blue V-Rift, 1965
48 x 34.5 x 2.5 inches. Acrylic on canvas.
Hexagon Block, 1965
93.5 x 61.75 x 3.25 inches. Acrylic on canvas.
First Bent Beam, 1965
59 x 29 x 3.5 inches. Acrylic on canvas.
Dr. Zig Wig, 1964
116 x 103 x 1.25 inches. Acrylic on canvas.
Pier-Peer, 1963.
68.5 x 59.75 x 3.25 inches. Acrylic on canvas.
Pentagon V-Rift, 1965 at 203 Fine Art, Taos
60 x 63 x 3.75 inches. Acrylic on canvas.
Floor Study, 1975.
27.75 x 35.75 inches. Ink on mylar mounted on paper.
Split Vent and Grayscale, 1975
27.75 x 35.75 inches. Graphite on mylar.
Slab Study, 1966
22 x 22.5 inches. Graphite on paper.
Dual Window Study, 1977
27.75 x 29.75 inches. Graphite and ink on mylar.