Bruce Richards

Sea View is pleased to present Soundings, a five-decade selection of paintings and sculptures by Bruce Richards (b. 1948, Dayton, OH).

Steeped in the culture of experimentation and conceptualism of UC Irvine in the 1960s/70s, Richards studied under artists Vija Celmins and Robert Irwin, while forming close friendships with California artists Chris Burden, Alexis Smith, Raul Guerrero, Billy Al Bengston and Ed Ruscha. For his upcoming solo exhibition at Sea View, Suzanne Muchnic writes:

“Flaming tires hover in space or sizzle in strange bonfires. Spilt milk streaks across a gray sky. A nearly invisible glass slipper shimmers on a blue background that slides into night. These are among the provocative images dreamed up by Bruce Richards in paintings that dazzle the eye with delicate detail, luscious color, and extraordinary skill while raising questions about the messages they deliver and what, exactly, the artist is up to. The objects he portrays so beautifully are instantly recognizable, but they occupy mysterious territory. Never securely grounded and often in motion, they may be rooted in art history, personal experience or world events...

Soundings, his aptly titled current exhibition, is a five-decade selection of works that invites us to slow down and think about what we are seeing. And to rethink what we think we are seeing.”

—Suzanne Muchnic

Suzanne Muchnic, a long-time art writer for the Los Angeles Times and contributor to many art catalogs and periodicals, is also the author of prize-winning books, including Odd Man In: Norton Simon and the Pursuit of Culture and LACMA So Far: Portrait of a Museum in the Making.

Bruce Richards (b. 1948, Dayton, OH) is an artist living and working in Dobbs Ferry, New York. Select solo exhibitions include Sea View, Los Angeles, CA (2024); Fortnight Institute, New York, NY (2024); Craig Krull Gallery, Santa Monica, CA (2022); and Jack Rutberg Fine Arts, Los Angeles, CA (2014). Select group exhibitions include Fortnight Institute, New York, NY (2023); Deutsches Hygiene Museum, Dresden, Germany (2016); Leila Heller Gallery, Curated by Paul Morris and Beth Rudin DeWoody, New York, NY (2014); Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, curated by Scott Canty and Isabelle Lutterodt, Los Angeles, California (2014); Jack Rutberg Fine Arts, Los Angeles, CA (2012); Nye + Brown, Culver City, CA (2011); San Antonio Museum of Art, San Antonio, Texas (2010); and the Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA (2009).

Bruce Richards’ work is in the public collections of the Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts, Laguna Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach Museum of Art, San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.