Stop for Gas, an homage to Edward Hopper

Acrylic on gessoed aluminum panel (mounted), 12 x 10''

painting #272, 2019

During the late 1980's, artist Gottfried Helnwein re-invented the famous Edward Hopper painting NIghthawks, by replacing the figures in the painting with Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, Elvis Presley and Humphrey Bogart. I remember quite vividly that it became widely popular and was displayed in every print shops, and in many restaurants and night clubs. Helnwein's Boulevard of Broken Dreams would also inspire the Green Day song of the same name. Nightwawks is probably the first Hopper painting that I became aware of. 

The conception for this painting just happened by happenstance. The background for the painting featuring my rendition of "Gas" was printed on a small box that once held 20 note cards w/ envelopes. The box is dated 2000 on the back. I remember buying it at the turn of the new millennium.  It was a derivative product made for the Museum of Modern Art that was probably sold in their museum store. All the cards are now long gone but I couldn't part with the box. It now stores some rubber stamps.  Earlier this year, I took out the box from a drawer to use a rubber ink stamp to embellish a birthday card. The small Matchbox - 1957 GMC side-step pick-up die-cast was already on my desk. When I saw them side by side.....the whole narrative came to me. The composition is resting on an Edward Hopper art book that was gifted to me by my wife, 20 years ago. A detailed image of "Gas" appears on the glossy cover of the book entitled "Edward Hopper, A Modern Master", written by Ita G. Berkow and published by Todtri in 1996.   

unedited photo study

I've been an admirer of the artwork of Edward Hopper since my early adulthood and have had the opportunity to view many of his paintings up-close in various museums in Europe but especially in the United States.

To acquire this painting, please contact: 

Galerie de Bellefeuille

1367 avenue Greene, 

Montreal, Quebec H3Z 2A8 

Tel: 514.933.4406

e-mail- art@debellefeuille.com

website 

-SOLD

L'as du volant ( The Driving Ace)

12 x 12", acrylic on mounted claybord

painting #266, 2018

Where does inspiration come from? For me it is often from getting a visceral response when I see something. I'll make a mental note, then eventually when other elements present themselves, much like making a small jig-saw puzzle, the image is revealed to me as a concept.

It is funny how a mundane moment can inspire a painting. During my month long vacation in Europe this past May, I met a lady from La Rochelle, France while on my two-week, 330 km hike on the Camino. When I told her that my French ancestor, Michel Richard crossed the Atlantic in 1652 from La Rochelle, she replied that her first husband was actually a Richard and both of her children have Richard as their family name. After my return home, I received a friend request from her on Facebook. Some time had passed when she wrote me a short note on messenger to see what I was up to. She mentioned that their lives had return to normal and her husband was re-joined a club to play Tarot. I only knew Tarot as cards used for divination or fortune telling. 

When I Googled French Tarot, I learned that it is a card game using strategy played with 4 players. Among the Google images that appeared on screen was the French card game “Mille Bornes”. I got an immediate visceral response upon seeing this nostalgic game and the wheels started turning. Thirty minutes later, I would find a Tintin at the wheel of a race car on eBay. The die-cast car that also features Snowy and the Thompson Twins was inspired from the comic book, “Les cigares du Pharaon” (Cigars of the Pharaoh), page 66. I would also acquired a 1971 edition of Milles Bornes on eBay. I wanted to use this edition since it was that one that I played during my youth. 

Hergé's comic strip from "Cigars of the Pharaoh)

Milles Bornes was created by Edmond Dujardin in 1954, with the card illustrated by Joseph Le Callennec. This card game based on a road trip is for 2 to 6 players, usually played by 4 players, 2 on each team, as a partnership. The object of this game is the first player or team to accumulate a total of exactly 5000 points in several hands of play. In so doing, players try to complete trips of exactly 1000 km/miles= 1000 points in each hand played. The term "Bornes" refers to the kilometre milestones found on many roads in France and Europe. 

My son Jean-Luc on a roadside borne in France, 2006

During my research, I also found a special edition of Mille Bornes based on The Adventures of Tintin. Ironically, as I was searching for an image for this blog post, the same sports car with our merry cast is featured on one of the cards. 

Trivia- The pop band Thompson Twins,  part of second British invasion of the 1980 was named after the two bumbling detectives Thomson and Thompson from Hergé's comic books.

This is one of two paintings that will exhibited at Art Toronto with La galerie de Bellefeuille of Montreal. The exhibition will be held from October 26 to 29, 2018 at Metro Toronto Convention Centre, North Building, 255 Front Street West, Toronto.
-SOLD

Car Jam

Acrylic on gessoed hardboard, 16 x 12''

painting # 211, 2012

This painting has been on the back burner for more than three years. I had purchased these Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars at the time and already had a concept in mind, but there was one illusive item to complete the composition and play with words that I have yet to find to satisfy me visually. In the past year, I came across this magnificent mason jar and book which in turn created a different narrative from my original concept.

The featured book, THE CAR, A HISTORY OF THE AUTOMOBILE was written by British-born Jonathan Glancey, whom until this past February was an architecture and design editor for The Guardian. He previously held the same position at The Independent and is currently a freelance editor. He has recently written several reviews for The Telegraph, including one about the recent opening to The ArcelorMitta Orbit at London's Olympic Park by artist Anish Kapoor and structural designer Cecil Balmond. He has also written several books surveying the history of architecture, planes, trains and automobiles. This edition was published in 2010 by Seven Oaks. The cover features a 1945 ZIS 110 Limousine, while the bottom is a Ferrari Enzo. I slightly played with the depth of field and keep the back imagery just slightly out of focus thus eliminating the very fine details so that the main details would focus on the jar and it's content. 

The jar includes the following models from Matchbox- a 1957 GMC Pick-up truck, a 2008 Chevy Corvette ZR1, and a 2005 Dodge Magnum. To complete the quintet, two Hot Wheels muscle cars: a 1970 Chevelle SS and a 1971 Dodge Charger. 

This painting is very much as the bold letter on the mason jar suggests, about the preservation and restoration of automobiles. There is great interest in vintage and classic cars. Here in Moncton, the city hosts the Atlantic Nationals,  a car show held over 3 days in July where the public comes out in droves. It's an eye-candy love fest for car lovers of all ages. I recently spoke to the wife of the chap to whom I had sold my first car, a 1971 Chevy Malibu. I sold it for $200, the same price I paid for it back in 1981. My father had helped me acquire the vehicle for a summer job when I was 19 years old and only kept if for 6 month. It was on its last miles when I sold it.....until he completely restored and transformed it into a veritable muscle car. She told me that it had been parked in their backyard in recent years, but it was still his baby and that he fully intended to refurbish it before long.

This painting was exhibited in: 

ASPECTS OF REALISM
Saint John Arts Centre
City of Saint John Gallery
20 Hazen Avenue
Saint John, NB CANADA
(506) 633-4870

September 7 - October 27, 2012

-SOLD

9-11 on a Dice Roll

Acrylic on gessoed hardboard,11¼ x 14¼''

Painting #205, 2012

This past September I was invited by the Elliott Fouts Gallery to take part in a group exhibition entitled ''Planes, Trains and Automobiles'' scheduled to open on March 3. The idea of using a Monopoly game board came to me during the following week as I was driving to the Greater Moncton Airport to pick up a family friend who was on a returning flight from Montreal. Upon taking the airport exit, you have to cross a railroad track to get to the terminal. So there I was, in an automobile, crossing a train track, to get to a plane.

My initial idea was using one of the four railroad spaces on the Monopoly game board. But the concept changed once I was able to acquire a plane and a train token on eBay. The locomotive engine token is part of the Monopoly ''70th Anniversary'' edition, while the jet plane game piece is from the Monopoly ''Here and Now'' edition. All three token have different finishes, the car has a semi-luster metallic finish, the train has a chrome finish while the plane is made of pewter.

As I was setting up the board game for the initial photo study and started moving the pieces around, the whole narrative came to me when I dropped the jet plane on New York Ave. I felt my heart sinking and it became a very unsettling moment. At the same time, it felt too important to dismiss. By the time I was done setting up the props, my initial concept would take on a whole new direction. The image may seem whimsical on the surface but has many cross references. The first serving as a 9-11 memorial on lives lost, the many injured and those left behind.  The 2001 World Trade Center disaster was also an attack on democracy and freedom, and the aftermath would immediately impact air travel, airport security and cross border crossing on a global scale. The count of dots on each dice totals 9 + 11,  and the two hotels are in reference of the Twin Towers. 

September 11, 2001 is forever etched in our consciousness. I was driving to Fredericton, NB to view an art exhibit at the Beaverbroook Art Gallery when I heard the drama as it unfolded live on radio. Later that evening and for the following days, I just sat in a numb state, transfixed and in disbelief in front of the TV set, absorbing the surreal video footage being replayed which also included two other passenger planes, one that targeted the Pentagon in Arlington, Va and a fourth (United Airlines Flight 93) that crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The repercussions of the September 11 terrorist attacks are all immeasurable in the emotional, financial and physical realm. It would later lead indirectly to the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as additional homeland security spending, totaling at least $5 trillion.

A year later, I would visit ''Ground Zero'' where the World Trade Center once stood. Seeing the cross made from recovered steel beams rising above the ashes like a Phoenix was an overwhelming sight. As was the banged- up Sphere Sculpture that once stood outside the World Trace Center (surrounded by a water fountain) that was recovered in the wreckage and installed as a memorial site next to an eternal flame as the centerpiece of the Hope Garden in nearby Battery Park. 

                                                       

The Train engine on Kentucky Ave is in reference to the ''Blue Grass State'' for having the most productive coal field in the US and for it's mining history. Coal was the primary source of fuel for steam engine locomotive prior to WW2 before eventually switching to gasoline, diesel and electricity. Kentucky is also the fourth largest producer of automobile in the United States. The Chevrolet Corvette, Cadillac XLR, Ford Explorer, Ford Super Duty truck, and the following Toyota vehicles: Camry, Avalon, Solara and Venza are all assembled here.

And of course the little roadster is on ''Free Parking'', since ''the Best things in life are still FREE'', including a smile. There is currently a price to pay for clean air, clean water and personal freedom. The top numbers on the dices equal seven as a symbol that we can still count our many blessings even when life has many unexpected turns.

Trivia- 
-In the Monopoly ''Here and Now'' edition, the railways have been replaced by the four    
 largest airports in the US. The tokens have also been revamped. The Scottish Terrier has   
 been bumped by a Labradoodle, the boot by a New Balance sneaker, the car by a Toyota 
 Prius, there is also a large McDonald's fries, a Starbucks Coffee mug, a Motorola cell  
 phone and a laptop computer.
-Tokens from the Monopoly US ''Here and Now'' Edition were flown into space aboard  
 Space Shuttle Atlantis in 2007.

''Planes, Trains and Automobiles'' Invitational group show 

at the Elliott Fouts Gallery, Sacramento, CA, March 3- April 5, 2012.

-SOLD

1940 Chevy Truck

Acrylic on gessoed hardboard, 2010

9 x 12'', #184

The Atlantic Nationals is an annual car show held in Moncton during the month of July. This Chevy truck was parked under a bright sun with puffy clouds underneath a tall leafy tree. This explains all of the unusual and freaky stuff happening on the bright red paint surface. It's quite evident that this pick-up has a proud owner and it's condition is immaculate, even sporting some amazing mag wheels. It's all eye candy to me and becomes an irresistible subject matter to paint.

As I was doing the pencil drawing, it occured to me to personalized the New Brunswick licence plate. Instead of signing the painting as I usually do, the new plate now reveals the info for the painting.

AVR- are my initials (Alvin Victor Richard),

184- corresponds to the painting's catalogue number,

08/2010- month it was mostly painted in.

This is the third of three paintings to be part of the invitational group show ''The Still Life'' to be held at the Elliott Fouts Gallery in Sacramento California from October 2 to November 5, 2010. 

-------------------------------------


Update - September 7, 2012
This painting will be part of a group exhibition entitled: 

ASPECTS OF REALISM
Saint John Arts Centre
City of Saint John Gallery
20 Hazen Avenue
Saint John, NB CANADA
(506) 633-4870

September 7 - October 27, 2012
Opening reception is on September 7 - 5:30 to 7:30pm

-----------------------------------------------

Handworks Gallery

12 King Street,
Saint John, NB, CANADA E2L 1G2
(506) 652-9787
e-mail - info@handworks.ca 

-SOLD

Bel Air in Monterey

Acrylic on gessoed hardboard, #162

15 x 11'' - 2009

The photo study for this painting was taken on March 23, 2008 during a lunch break in Monterey Ca during our family road trip in California last year. My true point of interest in this 1956 Chevrolet Bel Air is the space age chrome taillight. During this era, it seemed that craftsmanship and design was a true art form in the automobile industry, and models re-invented themselves on a yearly basis. It was a great opportunity to paint with the primary colors, and even though the yellow is a tad loud, it was the only logical choice, to keep it like the original.

I believe that this is the image that the gallery will use in the promotion of my solo show at Handworks Gallery. Bel Air is also a town in California, and as faith would have it, we would drive by that vicinity on our way to Ventura that same day.

Part of my solo show- Near & Far - October 16-30, 2009.

-SOLD

Solo exhibtion - Near & Far

I am starting to post artwork that will be included in my solo show at Handworks Gallery in Saint John, NB. With a bit less that three weeks before the opening, I am currently working on painting number 17. I have started a series of smaller paintings in order to fill the space. With the exception of the two paintings above, the rest of the collection will consist of new works.

''Are we there yet?''- 14 x 20''

Acrylic on hardboard, # 142, 2008

-SOLD

I usually paint from photographic material that I find in my own surroundings. For this show, I have including imagery also found during my travels that still retains the same familiar attributes. I've decided to study the theme quite broadly, with acrylic paintings that makes references to consumerism and popular culture, while trying to create a narrative by linking some of the imagery together, either with subject matter, elements found within the artwork or cross references from my own life.

Handworks Gallery is located at 12 King Street, Saint John, NB.
To purchase artwork posted for this show, please contact the gallery.

Gallery hours: 10:00am to 6:00pm (AST) from Monday to Saturday

Telephone - (506) 652-9787, e-mail - info@handworks.ca
Artwork must remain in the gallery until closure of the show.

Near & Far runs from October 16-30, 2009

Red Spider - Alfa Romeo

Acrylic polymer emulsion on gessoed hardboard, 8½'' x 11"

Created April 14 - May 14, 2008, #145.

The Spider is a roaster produced by the Italian manufacturer Alfa Romeo from 1966 to 1993 (190 Spiders were badged as 1994 Commemorative Editions for the North American market). Widely regarded as a design classic, it remained in production for almost three decades with only minor aesthetic and mechanical changes.

This painting is a gallery commission with the client supplying the photographs. I got to choose what would work better for me in keeping with my own artistic and aesthetic vision. It was actually the first time since 1987 that I would paint from an image I did not take myself. All the same, it was pretty much eye candy. The only drawback was I did not get to take a spin in it.

- Commission

Study for Summer of '69

Acrylic polymer emuslion on gessoed MDF, 3,5 x 5,5"

Painted October 9-15, 2006, #111.

This painting dates back to a year ago. It was done both as a study for the larger work of the same name and for an International Juried Exhibition of miniature paintings that was held at the World Fine Art Gallery in the Chelsea, New York City during the month of December 2006. To show my work in the Big Apple was in my Bucket List.

-SOLD

Summer of '69

Acrylic polymer emulsion on gessoed MFD, 11 x 17"
Painted April 2 - 22, 2007, # 120

I bought my first car at age 19. A run-down Chevelle Malibu 1971 for $200. It got me where I needed to go. This bright-red, eye-candy is the 1969 version. I wished that mine would have looked this cool. I took the photo study in 2003, at the Atlantic National car show in Moncton. When doing a painting like this, you learn to understand the properties of reflective metals and actually learn how to see better. Bryan Adams song of the same name seemed appropriate for the title.

- SOLD