Rene Ricard

"His poems are of the urban experience: ironic and deprecating; always with a slight twist. His epigrams, bare as prose, recall the work of the great Latin poet Catullus, through a wedding of classical forms with contemporary vernacular, and in their exploration of the common root of love and hate.

Rene Ricard's paintings display the same paradoxical blend of lyricism and mannerism as his poetry; sophisticated and extravagant, there is an elegant gestural quality that calls to mind the Roman graffiti paintings of Cy Twombly. While the product of great style and dexterity, the essence of these works lies in the utter abandon with which they were created: they return the artistic impulse to the rightful domain of the inspired moment."

- Excerpt from Petersburg press release for Rene Ricard's first exhibition in 1990.

This is Rene Ricard's fourth exhibition with Half Gallery, his third posthumously. Half Gallery has the great pleasure of presenting never-before-shown works in this new exhibition as well as some paintings from the Petersburg Press collection.