David Richard Gallery is pleased to announce Richard Roth, Close Call, the artist’s third solo exhibition with the Gallery. Debuting new large format paintings and dynamic two-dimensional compositions, the presentation includes new and recent paintings. Opening with an artist reception on Tuesday, November 27, 2018 from 5:00 - 8:00 PM in the gallery’s ground floor exhibition space at 211 East 121 ST, New York, New York 10035, the exhibition will remain on view through December 22, 2018.

Over the past several years, Roth has focused on his “Box Paintings”, which are literally paintings on five sides of birch wood boxes that measure 12 inches tall by 8 inches wide and 4 inches deep. This has been his format for several years and while the size may seem limiting, the end result is just the opposite. The confines force the artist to push his creativity and use every fraction of an inch to its maximum with bold geometric compositions and stunning colors that wrap around every surface with special attention paid to the corners, which Roth refers to as “side action”.

This exhibition will present not only a stunning array of new Box Paintings, but also debut two new larger painting formats. The first is literally an extension of the box paintings, in that they are painted on wood panels, each measuring 96 inches in length with variable heights ranging from only 3 to 6 inches. The second new format is much larger, paintings on wood panels measuring 60 inches tall by 48 inches wide and nearly 2 inches deep. While the compositions share formal similarities to the Box Paintings in terms of geometric shapes and hard edge painting technique, the larger formats have more negative space and intricate detail, but feel more reductive. More important, the larger paintings do not share the “side action”, it is all on top.

In Roth‘s own words, he refers to his artworks as, “Abstract paintings that flirt with popular culture, my work involves an interest in form, play, the quotidian, and the "retinal." At present, painting for me is like returning home. I painted for many years, then for approximately ten years my practice became more conceptual—creating collections of contemporary material culture. I returned to painting in 2006 with a renewed and revitalized interest, fueled by conceptualism and informed by postmodern attitudes. A no-holds-barred approach to form has allowed a wide range of sources—product and package design, architecture, nature, masks, custom cars, and fashion—to enrich my practice and its conversation with the legacy of modernism.”

Richard Roth is an artist whose work has been exhibited nationally and internationally. In 1991 he was the recipient of a Visual Artists Fellowship in Painting from the National Endowment for the Arts. He received an MFA from the Tyler School of Art and a BFA from The Cooper Union. His work has been exhibited at Tomlinson Kong Contemporary, NY; Galerie Rob de Vries, The Netherlands; David Richard Gallery, Santa Fe, NM; HICA, Highland Institute of Contemporary Art, Loch Ruthven, Scotland, The Suburban, Oak Park, IL; Rocket Gallery, London; the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and Reynolds Gallery, Richmond; UCR/California Museum of Photography; the Museum of Modern Art, Saitama, Japan; Feigen, Inc., Chicago; the Whitney Museum of American Art, NY; OK Harris Gallery, NY; Castelli Warehouse, NY.

Roth is the co-editor of the book, Beauty is Nowhere: Ethical Issues in Art and Design and co-author of three books – Color Basics, Design Basics 3D, and Design Basics 2D and 3D. He was the Director of Solvent Space in Richmond, Virginia, 2005 – 2009. He was a faculty member in the Painting and Printmaking Department at Virginia Commonwealth University from 1999 - 2015; he chaired the Department from 1999 – 2008. He has also taught at The Ohio State University, Columbus; The School of the Art Institute of Chicago; the Birmingham Institute of Art and Design – University of Central England; and the University of California, Berkeley. Richard Roth presently lives and works in Camarillo, California.