Tyndall Galleries: Contemporary American Art Gallery in Chapel Hill, NC
Richard Garrison:
"This new body of paintings is largely the result of my ongoing study of ancient and Pythagorean geometry, sometimes referred to as Sacred Geometry because it goes beyond a description of spatial order to an analysis of the basic structure of the universe, and the metaphysical laws that govern it. I am interested in humanity's place within that universal structure, and humanity's relationship with the metaphysical, the spiritual, the sacred.
"Sacred Geometry provides a wealth of symbolism. Since ancient times and across a wide spectrum of cultures the circle has been a metaphor for God, the Creator, or the spiritual unity. Two interlocking circles can signify the joining of spiritual, universal consciousness with the empirical. A triangle, the most basic form of surface, can be a pathway to the abstract idea of the metaphysical as well as to the square, representing the physical realm. Many geometric functions are progressions from one simple form to more complex multiples, and these progressions can represent growth from one cell to many, or from a complex form built upon the basic, to the function of the physical relationship between living entities and the structures that govern them, and even on to the relationship between our human consciousness and the metaphysical.
"In this study and practice there are unknowns or not completely definable principles that reflect the mystery of the spirit in us, and I have been interested in preserving some sense of that mystery; the mystery and the sacredness in our everyday lives." - Richard Garrison
"Intensely palpable, Richard Garrison's architectonic; mixed media paintings aggressively push into the third dimension. Building his paintings in roughly rectangular blocks of color, Garrison enhances surfaces with the applications of newsprint, cardboard, fabric and heavily impastoed paint. Garrison's strong colors, veering toward the primary and tactile surfaces could stand alone as compelling examples of nonobjective art. But, by introducing recognizable imagery, he escalates the spatial and conceptual tension that binds the disparate elements in a precarious equilibrium." - CeCe Bullard, Richmond Times-Dispatch
Richard Garrison grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina and attended the School of Design at North Carolina State University before transferring to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he graduated with a BFA in 1985. Widely exhibited, his work has earned him numerous awards and can be found in many corporate and private collections.
