Incursions

Rhett Baruch Gallery is pleased to present a solo exhibition of paintings and sculptures by artist Richard Shapiro. This is the inaugural exhibition for the gallery at its new Los Angeles location as well as the first solo exhibition with Shapiro. Featured is a series of new monumental paintings and sculpture on tarpaulin that will be on view from January 25 through February 23, 2025. The opening reception is on Saturday, January 25, 2025 from 5-8pm at 357 N La Brea Ave 90036

Richard Shapiro is an internationally recognized creative in the worlds of design and art. Over the last forty years his greatest love has been Arte Povera, the Italian movement of the mid 20th century. Its hallmarks and references have almost always found their way into his work. Unconventional materials and fabrication methods are broadly employed in his ongoing search for what he calls a “new language”.

His first work from the nineties consisted of found and decrepit house painters' drop cloths on which he emblazoned the names of Arte Povera's heroes. For Shapiro, a common tarpaulin is today's "poor" material. Rumpled and craggy topographies invaded by striated planes echo the inquisitive spirit of Arte Povera while breaking new ground in the quest for its next iteration.

Richard Shapiro (b. 1942; lives and works in Los Angeles, CA).