Contemporary American ceramic artist Richard Hirsch's encaustic "Paintings of Nothing Series" #14, #16, #22 and #23 are made of ceramic raw materials, dry pigment and wax. Hirsch applied the waxy mix with a brush onto redwood plywood backed structures with two-inch wood strips all around and used various torches to layer, flux, bubble and blend. "Waxy and very tactile, they are probably the work Mark Rothko would have done had he spent most of his life in clay. Hirsch’s paintings have the nuance, subtle texture, and color shifts that become evident in blown-up photographs of his ceramic objects as well as a similar presence." They are shown as a group, but priced per piece. Shown on top left / Image 2 - Paintings of Nothing Series #22 Shino (2012), top right / Image 3 - Paintings of Nothing Series #23 OM4 (2012), bottom left / Image 4 - Paintings of Nothing Series #14 Dark Green (2010) and bottom right / Image 5 - Paintings of Nothing Series #16 Light Green (2011). Each is signed and dated en verso by the artist. These paintings will ship directly from the artist’s studio in Rochester, NY.
(Literature: "With Fire: Richard Hirsch, A Life Between Chance and Design", Scott Meyer (Author), RIT Cary Graphic Arts Press 2012 - "The Paintings" pgs. 102 - 105. Images 8 - 9: Paintings of Nothing Series at the “Spillforth" 2012 Exhibition of Glass and Ceramic Arts by Richard Hirsch and Michael Rogers. The event featured texts by C.D. Wright and Forrest Gander held at Brown University's Cohan Gallery at the Granoff Center, Providence, RI. Image 10: Richard Hirsch in front of his work at the same exhibition.)
Richard Hirsch brief bio:
In the field of contemporary ceramic, Rick Hirsch has earned an international reputation. He has achieved this recognition by engaging in numerous diversified professional activities. Through efforts in university teaching, exhibits, writing, lecturing and researching he has risen to worldwide prominence.
In 1975, Hirsch co-authored a book entitled Raku, published by Watson-Guptill. This was the first comprehensive text to address the new innovations developing in the west that were transforming traditional Japanese Raku. Also, in the same year, Hirsch became a founding faculty member of The Program in Artistry at Boston University. Currently, Hirsch is a Professor Emeritus at The School for American Crafts which is a part of Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, NY. His university teaching career now spans well over four decades.
Repeatedly, Hirsch has participated in several milestone exhibitions and publications. Significant shows include; The Evolution of American Art in Craft Media Since 1945; Echoes: Historical References in Contemporary Ceramics; American Ceramics Now; Raku: Origins, Impact and Contemporary Expression; and Convergences: The Presence of the Past in Contemporary American Ceramics.
Frequently his work appears in book and magazine publications, such as; Overseas Contemporary Ceramic Art Classics by Baiming, China; Raku Investigations into Fire by David Jones, England; The History of American Ceramics from 1607 to the Present by Elaine Levin, New York; World Contemporary Ceramics by Baiming, China; and Firing, Philosophies within Contemporary Ceramic Practice by David Jones, England.
Several museums have included his work for their permanent collections. These include; The Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; The Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian Institute, Washington DC; The High Museum of Art, Atlanta; The Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse; The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri; The Taipei County Yinko Ceramics Museum, Taipei, Taiwan; and the George R. Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, Toronto, Canada.
In 1984, Hirsch was elected as a permanent member of The International Ceramics Academy, a worldwide organization headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. A recipient of a William J. Fulbright Research Scholar Award in 2002, Hirsch has also received several Individual Artists Grants. Most recently he was honored by The Rochester Institute of Technology, with the Board of Trustees' Outstanding Scholarship Award. Recently Hirsch collaborated with Dr. Scott Meyer on his biography, the book is entitled With Fire: Richard Hirsch and is published by The Cary Graphic Arts Press at RIT, ISBN-13: 978-1-933360-97-3.
Amid the ever-shifting sands of change and new trends that is prevalent in contemporary ceramics, Richard Hirsch has maintained his steadfast personal aesthetic and continues to make a significant contribution to his field.
