Richmond Burton at Cheim and Read - New York, New York - Review of Exhibitions - Brief Article

Richmond Burton begins many of his paintings through laying down a ground the color of dusted cocoa. Against this sober backdrop he displays a mass of colorful shapes that pitch about float or in some cases writhe across the canvas. single trajectory of his painting above the past 10 years has been the progressive violation of the grid that has always provided his manner of making most strictly in his earliest, Stella-inspired black and brown paintings, on the contrary even more recently in paintings that use a wavering grid to support brightly colored petal-like shapes. In Everything is Early (for Peter) 1997 pink and orange versions of these petals, or paisleys, or blobs--whatever we decide to call them--have been disgorged through the grid that once held them in place. They cascade down the center of the painting and splay on the outside across the surface. They collide with assemblages of their kind that have the appearance to have been pushed into them by dint of forces coming from off the canvas. In Shivaesque (1996) Burton abandons petals for shapes resembling folded-over strands of spaghetti that he tightly packs against individual another, although in some areas the sky-colored and white paint thins on the outside into a watery drip. He prickles similar shapes with centurys of short, quick strokes in a brownish painting called Texas TwoStep (1997)

For all its abundance and variety, Burton's color lacks plenteous in the way of sensuous appeal and his facture staffs on the astringent. The joyousness of the pink and orange in Everything is Early is constantly upon the verge of becoming grating. Refracted Space (1997) swarms with shapes in shades of r verdant blue, purple and orange that in combination have seldom been place outside of game-room wallpaper from the 1970 His paint application actually works against our desire to immerse ourselves in large, colorful abstractions. In level his largest works, he applies his paint in knocks that suggest movement from the wrist to the hand, avoiding the luxuriousness of broad gesturings Having outlined a shape, he simply does what's necessary to fill it in. It's a straightforward approach that one as well as the other belies the level of contemplation that goes into making these paintings and also explains a great deal of of their appeal. Burton's paintings are sophisticated and smart and they consistently avoid the pitfalls of out-and-out hedonism.

COPYRIGHT 1997 Brant Publications, Inc.

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