David Park and The Human Spirit

David Park: Personal Perspectives

and

The Human Spirit:
Contemporary Figuration as an Expression of Humanism

David Park: Personal Perspectives contains 37 works on paper in various media executed from the 1930s through 1960, the last year of Park’s life. Drawn from the artist’s estate and private collections, this exhibition includes works shown for the first time. Presented in the intimate South Gallery at the Richmond Art Center, visitors will have an unique opportunity to study his space, compositions, and very personal narratives. 

The exhibition The Human Spirit: Contemporary Figuration as an Expression of Humanism bridges the Art Center’s historical role in presenting formative exhibitions of the Bay Area Figurative artists in the 1950s, The Human Spirit will extend our consideration of legacy to the work of over 20 contemporary Bay Area artists who have expanded the figurative art tradition through paintings, sculpture, photography, video, and performance.  This survey will include the work of Elmer Bischoff, Joan Brown, Terry St. John, Christopher Brown, Charles Garabedian, and Enrique Chagoya. Following a highly personal path with exuberant use of materials and iconography, these artists have forged visual language built on vocabularies including folk, medieval, aboriginal, and outsider art.

Press

Two exhibits celebrate Richmond Art Center milestone, San Francisco Chronicle/SF Gate, Wednesday, March 23, 2016
Taking Drastic Measures, East Bay Monthy, May 2016

Public Programs

Opening Reception
Saturday, March 19th   5-7 p.m
A first viewing for RAC members and the community, artists, their families and friends. Free and open to the public.

David Park: A Personal Point of View
Sunday, April 3rd 1:30 – 3:30 p.m.
A discussion of the artist’s work and life with the Artist’s daughter, Helen Park Bigelow and family and friends. Free.

Being Human: A Performance by Allan deSouza
Sunday, April 10th   2 p.m.
Artist, critic, and, educator, deSouza presents a performance developed for the exhibition, “The Human Spirit,” with an eye to the rhythms and movements of society and personal experience. Free.

David Park in Perspective: A Radical Choice and a Profound Legacy
Sunday, April 17th 1:30 -3:30 p.m.
In light of Park’s influence on his contemporaries and impact on teaching, art attitudes and practices, and the persistence of values with artists, we bring together a roundtable discussion with artists exhibiting in “The Human Spirit” examining directions within, outside, and against the mainstream in art. Free.

Critical Approaches to Figure and Form, Concept and Content
Sunday, April 24th   1:30 – 3:30 p.m.
A panel discussion and open forum with art critics, writers and historians including DeWitt Cheng, Terri Cohn, and John Zarobell. Free

Modeled and Formed: Drawing from the Model in the Company of Park
Thursday, April 21st   6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
A working session with model open to artists of the community for a Park- inspired evening of drawing.   $25

The Del Sol String Quartet Concert
Saturday, May 7th  2 p.m.
These extraordinary musicians programming music in concert with the exhibition and improvising off individual artwork. Suggested Donation. No one turned away!

Plein Air Perspectives: A Watercolor Workshop  
Sunday, May 15th  12- 2 p.m.
Pack up your paper, watercolors and gouache and join us for painted vistas and views around the Richmond Art Center.

Never Fade Away: Closing Reception for David Park
Sunday, May 22nd   3-5 p.m.
Free and open to the public.

Watch the exhibition videos:

Video 1: David Park: A Personal Point of View
David Park produced a late body of work extraordinary for its focus and direction. In a sharp shift from abstraction to figuration. Park’s move stands out as a re-orientation of radical proportion. Yet it is as a teacher and mentor that Park presides as the cornerstone of an entire art movement and perspective, which came to be known as Bay Area Figurative Art in the 1950s.
Video 2: David Park: A Radical Choice and a Profound Legacy
Artists Chris Brown, Kota Ezawa, Allan deSouza and Livia Stein participated in a roundtable discussion as artists exhibiting in The Human Spirit. The panelists examined directions within, outside, and against the mainstream in art, in light of Park’s influence on his contemporaries and impact on teaching, art attitudes and practices, and the persistence of values with artists. This event was moderated by our Director of Exhibitions, Jan Wurm.
Video 3: Critical Approaches to Figure and Form
A panel discussion and open forum with art critics, writers and historians John Zarobell and DeWitt Cheng, moderated by our Exhibitions Director Jan Wurm.

Sponsors

The Richmond Art Center is grateful for the generous support and sponsorship of the exhibition provided by Blick Art Materials, Susan and Steven Chamberlin, Jacobs & CO., James Curtis III, Nina and Claude Gruen, Hackett | Mill, Richard Diebenkorn Foundation, Harry W. and Mary Margaret Anderson Charitable Foundation, Oliver and Company, and the Zellerbach Family Foundation.