This chance encounter at Ralph’s later led to Richard’s work being featured on the walls of Sofitel gallery in Beverley Hills. Everything Richard needed to get to work. “That wasn’t the case with these two guys.”Ĭharlie answered his call and the very next day he took Richard shopping for art supplies, buying him $2,000 worth of canvasses, paints and brushes. Richard added: “You hear that so much and nothing happens.” After chatting, Charlie gave Richard his number and said to call the next day. In that blue van in April was Charlie “Rocket” Jabaley, 2Chainz’s previous manager who has become known for his Dream Machine. By 2021, Richard was living in a shelter as part of a scheme in LA that was housing the homeless during the pandemic. Soon after this, Richard became homeless. However, when a fire destroyed the building, Richard lost around 800 pieces of his work. Until that time he had painted under the name of Drew Hill, claiming the NFL player’s name.Īfter Richard got out, he worked for a time in a studio in California, this time under his own name. While locked up, Richard’s fake name he had been using was discovered. What touched Richard the most was witnessing his inspiration of others in the jail to take up the brush. Richard tells me that a friend of his is also making them into a book. Now, prints of these envelope paintings are selling on his website for around $700, with the originals going for around $2,500 each. In total, Richard painted about 200 envelopes while in jail. Photograph: Aiden White/Timothy BishopĪfter the exhibition he donated the envelopes to UC Santa Barbara library, where they can still be seen hanging on the walls. He even became a featured artist in a gallery in Pasadena, California, after sending some of the envelopes there. On the bottom of each envelope, he noted the days of his jail time. He sent out around 15-20 envelopes everywhere each week, to friends or any addresses he could get his hands on.
RICH ICONOGRAPHER TRIAL
After that, Richard used anything he could get his hands on to paint with, including coffee, toothpaste and toilet paper.Īt first it was trial and error. He took the hairs from his beard and made a paint brush to dip into the newly created colours. Sitting on the top bunk bed which he used as a table in his cell, Richard discovered the dye on some Skittles and M&Ms had run due to some wasted water. Despite not having access to paint, a chance discovery one day meant colour could once again be introduced into his work. Richard would write letters to his friends and draw on the outside of the envelopes in pencil. Being in a cell for 22 hours a day didn’t stop him from creating his work. He was later found not guilty of the crime of which he had been accused and released. However, his career was interrupted when Richard was sent to Los Angeles county jail. “When I paint I put my life into it,” he told the Guardian.
RICH ICONOGRAPHER FULL
A life full of dreams, passion, strength, sadness, loss and love.For Richard, art is a part of who he is. Apart from the written words you can see there is a life lived. With a love of reusing and recycling I have chosen objects that would quite often be discarded or ignored to be the vessels which hold these beautiful eyes, giving them new life and purpose. I have painted the ones I know well and the ones I have never met. I have painted the eyes of tiny babies, eyes in their 90’s and the eyes that will be very dearly missed.
I have had the honour of painting 114 eyes of beautiful women from all around the world. When I started this project I had no idea if it would work, I had no idea that there was a pandemic about to hit and I had no idea what this project would mean to me. When life became a little slower, a little scarier and a little more in the moment.
‘I see you’ started as an idea in 2019 inspired by the intriguing history of Georgian ‘lovers eyes’, and came to life in an Instagram call-out in 2020 just before the world changed. This little community that has formed in my home from all around the world at a time where we have had to stay apart, but have needed each other more than ever. So here you all sit getting ready for the big day. I extend that respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples throughout this land.'Īn online exhibition of 114 eyes from all around the world 'I begin today by acknowledging the Bunurong people, Traditional Custodians of the land on which I stand on today, and pay my respects to their Elders past and present.
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