TO BE OR
NOT TO HAVE BEEN
Richard Kurtz
Solo Exhibition
Sept. 4 - 28th
Reception: Monday Evening,
September 23rd, 6:30 - 8pm
Will be showing his dynamic "Target Boxers"
Artist Richard Kurtz spent time in both his art studio and in the boxing ring honing his pugilist skills in New York City during the late 70s through the mid-90s. There he met Mohammed Ali as well as artist luminaries Andy Warhol and Jean Michel Basquiat. More of a painter than a fighter, on the first pass his artwork emerged victorious in the match between the two. On second round, however, the spirit of the boxer emerged the true victor in the contest, embodying his artworks as muse, metaphor and archetype of triumph. Facing off with titles such as “ I Have Your Back,” “Master Blaster” and “You Ain’t No Astronaut,” his boxers bear psychological bravado while gearing up to win the proverbial big fight. In his “outsider” painting style that brings to mind the works of Howard Finster and Jean-Michel Basquiat, a childlike vulnerability emerges in his figures adding humor, insight and heightened awareness.
Painted with scraps of urban detritus on recycled target papers and credit cards, the fighting figures of Richard Kurtz’ boxer series are not to be missed.
In Richard Kurtz' words:
“My playful style speaks for an inner child inside all of us. The child preserves myth and wonder, heroes and villains, in a world of violent manufactured control. My artwork serves as an alternative to a rigid system, a key for the shackles that bind us.”
Scrap metal, discarded paper, fallen pieces of material life. These materials allow me to reassemble through collage a true image, with a coherent meaning, and a reminder for us all.
I seek to reawaken the viewer, to foster awareness, to stimulate insight.
I am a guerilla artist with colors bright and energetic. With pure energy, I push away from the hands of a grotesque government complex, propaganda, limitation, the enemies of high consciousness.
My role is to speak truth through images. My challenge is to do so without being appropriated by an unforgiving system."
-- Richard Kurtz
Richard Kurtz Biography
Painted with scraps of urban detritus on recycled target papers and credit cards, the fighting figures of Richard Kurtz’ boxer series are not to be missed.
In Richard Kurtz' words:
“My playful style speaks for an inner child inside all of us. The child preserves myth and wonder, heroes and villains, in a world of violent manufactured control. My artwork serves as an alternative to a rigid system, a key for the shackles that bind us.”
Scrap metal, discarded paper, fallen pieces of material life. These materials allow me to reassemble through collage a true image, with a coherent meaning, and a reminder for us all.
I seek to reawaken the viewer, to foster awareness, to stimulate insight.
I am a guerilla artist with colors bright and energetic. With pure energy, I push away from the hands of a grotesque government complex, propaganda, limitation, the enemies of high consciousness.
My role is to speak truth through images. My challenge is to do so without being appropriated by an unforgiving system."
-- Richard Kurtz
Richard Kurtz Biography