Richie Culver

Art

“My work is intimate.  It’s just my view on life and how I/we as people communicate - it’s the only way I know. It all just comes really naturally in the same way a musician writes a song. It’s difficult to explain but it just happens, I almost have no control over it, it’s just nice that people can identify with it.” (Richie Culver)

English born artist, Richie Culver needs no introductions: his body of works spells tensions and contradictions: cultural vs. social, provincial vs. cosmopolitan, cash-strapped vs. affluent, art museum highs vs. street-cultural lows.

The artist’s career sprung out of a simple act: a magazine cutout of a Jesse Owens photo with the words “Have you ever really loved anyone?” stuck to it.

Despite the fact that he hasn’t had any formal training, his first artwork was immediately featured at Tate Modern, a huge confirmation for Culver that evidently art was a world inviting him to explore deeper.

Richie Culver’s work examines and reflects in a unique way, his own experiences and inner realm. A wide range of artistic mediums are involved in Culver’s artistic trajectory: from gritty documentary photography, to urban bricolage, from drawings and paintings to video.

Collages, which are considered the trademark medium for Richie, were the artist’s first artistic medium, constituting the heartfelt matching of words with images.

Photography, mixed-media installations, paintings have also been part of his creative expression.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Culver is indeed, a living demonstration that the right attitude is all it takes for an artist to communicate his thoughts, spirit and talent. A pragmatic, sentimental, personal, conscious autobiographical, and punk aesthetic prevails.

Culver is an artist with an emotional duality; he can make the viewer either cry or laugh. Richie Culver’s art is fused with honesty, transparency and vulnerability.

http://www.richieculver.com/

Words    Annie Markitanis

Picture 01    ©-Richie-Culver,-Have-You-Ever-Really-Loved-Anyone--Collage,-420-x-594-mm,-2010

Picture 02    ©-Richie-Culver,-XXXX,-C-Print,-600-x-900-mm,-2013

Picture 03    ©-Richie-Culver,-Heaven-And-Hell,-Collage,-500-x-700-mm,-2010

Picture 04    ©-Richie-Culver,-I-Didn’t-Want-You-To-See-Me-Crying-Collage,-230-x-330-mm,-2010

Picture 05    ©-Richie-Culver,-British-Rogue,-Pigment-ink-print,-2010

Picture 06    ©-Richie-Culver,-His-Last-Words-Were-…-,C-Print,-1000-x-670-mm,-2013

Picture 07    ©-Richie-Culver,-Dad,-Pigment-ink-print,-2009

Picture 08    ©-Richie-Culver,-I-Loved-You-So-Much,-Collage-210-x-297-mm,-2010

Picture 09    ©-Richie-Culver,-Rank-Sinatra-–-Edition-of-5,-Screen-Print-on-Arches-paper,-100x70cm,-2014

Picture 10    ©-Richie-Culver,-It’s-Difficult-For-Me-To-Explain,-Collage-230-x-330-mm,-2011

Picture 11    ©-Richie-Culver,-Afraid-of-Clowns,-Pasten-&-crayon-on-Rag-paper,-940-x-650-mm,-2013

Picture 12    ©-Richie-Culver

Picture 13    ©-Richie-Culver,-When-your-heart-breaks,-Pastel-&-pencil-on-Paper,-100x70cm,-2014

Picture 14    ©-Richie-Culver,-Head-In-Hands,-Pigment-ink-print,-2011

Picture 15    ©-Richie-Culver,-Diet,-Acrylic-&-household-paint-on-canvas,-1400-x-900mm,-2015

Picture 16    ©-Richie-Culver,-Batty-Flower,-Multiple-Exposure-Photography,-2013

Picture 17    ©-Richie-Culver-3

Picture 18    ©-Richie-Culver,-I-loved-you-(white),-Household-paint-&-Acrylic-on-Canvas,-400-x-300mm,-2013