Forrest Williams - A Retrospective: 1990s to Present /
Rick Wrigley: Sculpture
AMP Gallery Through September 24, 2021
The Moor, oil on wood panel, 15x30 in, 2013-14
"My work is about relationships—and about separateness—but fundamentally the paintings are about the self. I'm interested in that place of tension between the containment and the expression of feeling, and in how to portray that visually.
The paintings depict individual men, but they aren't portraits. The men inhabit a particular place, but it isn't real. It's an ambiguous, interior territory, where things are and are not what they seem. The paintings are like stages upon which dramas play out--theatrical moments--and the men who inhabit them are the actors. The reality lies in the emotional core of this world, intensely felt but highly contained. My model Lorenzo called it "emotional purgatory." Perhaps these are worlds of their own making—worlds with edges and outsides and unknown terrains beyond, just out of reach. For me the paintings are often as much about what isn't seen as what is.
Although they're a group of anonymous men, they're at the same time in some way self-portraits. This is the region where desire and doubt, longing and reticence, intimacy and uncertainty coexist. It speaks of absence as much as presence."
Forrest Williams has shown his work in numerous solo and group exhibitions in the US and Canada. Current solo exhibitions include: 2017 “Ghosts”, 2016 “Lowlands” and 2014 “Arrival” AMP, Provincetown, MA; 2010 “Crossways” Marx & Zavattero, San Francisco, CA; 2007 “Porches” Heather Marx Gallery, San Francisco, CA; 2005 “Passage” Heather Marx Gallery, San Francisco, CA. Recent group exhibitions include: 2013-14 “Hello, Goodbye” Dolby Chadwick Gallery, San Francisco, CA; 2012 “Two Loves – Sex, Art, and the Love That Dare Not Speak Its Name” Kymara Gallery, Biddeford, ME; 2012 “SEEN” Visual Aid Gallery, San Francisco, CA; 2012 “New York Academy of Art Sixth Annual Summer Exhibition” Flowers, New York, NY; 2011 “Sea Change” Marx & Zavattero, San Francisco, CA; 2011 “The Elegance of Refusal” Gensler, San Francisco, CA; 2009 “Seldom Seen” Leslie/Lohman Foundation; New York, NY; 2009 “Figuratively Speaking” Lyons Wier Gallery, New York, NY; 2008 “Color Key” The Painting Center, New York, NY.
Sculpture No. 6, Kayu Batu mahogany, paint, 58h x 33w x 36d in, 2018
"After 25 years as an art-furniture-maker and over 10 years designing and building houses, I am now finding new inspiration as a sculptor. Prior to this career change, my creative process involved working within the tight constraints set by the function of the object or building I was designing. For instance, a successful design for a chair, a table, or especially a house, must meet a very particular set of functional criteria. In the case of a commission, the needs and desires of the client as well as the budget add further constraints.
For many years I enjoyed the challenge of solving aesthetic problems within these types of strict parameters. The work required a discipline I was comfortable with — a discipline that, with time, became automatic for me. But I now feel drawn to move beyond the functional limits inherent in architectural and furniture design. Exploring new aesthetic challenges as a sculptor has become my current focus.
Authenticity is far more important to me than the concerns of formal development. While I would not discourage intellectual reflection as part of the viewer’s experience with my work, I hope “thinking” is secondary to “feeling” and “sensing.” Toward the aim of evoking an emotional and sensory response in the viewer, I make intuitive choices regarding materials, the use of texture, color, and asymmetry. The archetypal spiral form often appears in my work, as does an irregular hand-drawn line.
I bring decades of experience as an art-furniture maker and designer to my practice as a sculptor. My work is informed by a concern for craftsmanship and an intimate knowledge of how to shape and manipulate my materials. As the craft of what I do is now second nature, I am free to watch for the visual surprises that often occur as a sculpture evolves from sketch to mock-up, to the actual making of the final work. It is in these discoveries that I find opportunities for an authentic artistic expression to emerge."
Rick Wrigley's work has evolved across disciplines: First as an Art Furniture-Maker, then as a designer and builder of houses, and currently as a sculptor.
His career began with an apprenticeship to a classically trained British cabinetmaker. He then received a B.F.A. from the School for American Craftsmen, R.I.T., Rochester, NY.
Recognized as an important figure in the Studio Furniture movement, Rick received a New England Foundation for the Arts Fellowship and participated in invitational exhibitions at the Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery, The Boston Museum of Fine Arts, The Musee des Arts Decoratifs, Montreal, and The Silvermine Gallery in New Canaan.
He won a Connecticut Commission on the Arts competition to design and make 44 large hearing room doors for the Legislative Office Building, Hartford. A pair of these doors was subsequently exhibited at the American Craft Museum, NYC.
Rick's work is in the permanent collection of the Renwick Gallery.
In addition to his studio practice, Rick has worked as an architectural designer/builder completing six houses in Provincetown MA.
His most current work is as a sculptor. His sculpture has been exhibited at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum. He is represented by AMP Gallery in Provincetown where he shows regularly.