Ron Richmond

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Seemingly isolated in his central Utah studio, oil painter Ron Richmond seems to thrive on the serenity of his location: “I have always wanted to be in a quiet, peaceful place,” he says. “This is the environment that gets me into a certain mood.” As reflected in his classical, symbolic oil paintings of spaces and places, Richmond’s mood transports his viewers. “Perhaps my art entices a person to replace something that has been long lost. I also want my work to evoke a feeling of what should come next in the human experience.”

One of the most acclaimed contemporary artists to have emerged from Brigham Young University’s school of art, Richmond paints with a subdued palette, masterfully exploiting geometric relationships within his images. To walk past a Richmond painting casually is practically impossible for the works are completely arresting. Their powerful emotions—at once both disturbing and serene—catch the eye. He uses minimal, modernist schemes to elevate human vision to another level, another realm of the real. His images do not depict things so much as the space in and around things and the attributes symbolized by them. Not the least of the attributes of Ron Richmond’s remarkable oil paintings is their pervasive, intense spirituality.