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Avon to Avon to Avon to Tiber: Richard Long at Lorcan O'Neill (Rome)

  • Maria Vittoria Di Sabatino
  • 15 mar 2016
  • Tempo di lettura: 2 min

The fifth solo show of Richard Long at Galleria Lorcan O’Neill, on show until April 30, is dedicated to “mud paintings”. Executed between 2005 and 2016, the selection of works on exhibit involves the presence of mud on canvas, on wood, and on Fabriano paper. Also, a site-specific brick line was realized for the occasion.

Richard Long, River Avon Mud, installation view. Courtesy of Lorcan O'Neill gallery.

Entering the gallery, four big mud canvases dominate the walls of the main room, whereas a series of aligned Serpentino stones tears up the floor. The mud cannot be scented nor sensed; its mere visual sensation is juxtaposed to the calm, ordered, and clean surfaces of the gallery space.

RICHARD LONG, Walking to a Solar Eclipse, 2012, Printed Text Work, 105.5 x 157 x 4 cm. Courtesy of Lorcan O'Neill Gallery.

The chaotic drips and drops and stains are enclosed within the straight edges of rectangular or squared canvases. Similarly, the uneven quality of the series of Serpentino bricks is inscribed within an rectangle ideally drawn on the floor. Although Richard Long aims to highlight the heterogeneous quality of each individual, the whole complex of his works seems regulated by attention to order. “It is that sort of cosmic variety that I'm interested in” – Long says – “like all stones are different, all fingerprints are different, all clouds are different, every splash is different, every walk is different, one never steps in the same river twice.”

River Avon Mud, Mud works, Richard Long. Courtesy of Lorcan O'Neill gallery.

In the contiguous, smaller room, three framed finger-printed Fabriano sheets flank a printed concise description of the exhibition’s ratio: “Avon to Avon to Avon/A hundred mile walk in three days/From the River Avon in Hampshire/To the River Avon in Wiltshire/To the River Avon in Warwickshire”. Fingerprint by fingerprint, Long’s hundred-mile walk is ideally retraced on paper, exploring diverse compositions.

Ultimately, the artist creates a space for natural diversity within an idealized order of reality. By attempting to recreate the land experience within the gallery’s white cube, Richard Long is opening up a portal from nature. In other words, the artist aims to ease the exchange between the gallery visitor and the earth, by using nature as both the message and the medium of his works.

RIVER AVON MUD

04 July 2014 – 30 September 2014 Address: Vicolo dei Catinari 3, Roma

Info: www.lorcanoneill.com

Hours: Tuesday to Saturday 11am - 7pm

 
 
 

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