Brian Riley 1 Projects is pleased to announce the opening of Memories of Moments, Paintings by Richard Stabbert.

Richard is a self taught painter whose work is powered by the magic of an artist’s recollections.

His simple, direct, and pure images speak volumes. Richard renders moments of stories for his audience, often capturing a situation where people lose themselves in innocent play or intimate yearnings. With his playful use of imagery that could so easily seem cliche, a window onto The Eiffel Tower, a bowl of fruit, or a vase of pink roses Richard is able to infuse new vigor into symbols allowing them to stand as magic elements inside his paintings.

We are simultaneously inside and outside the situations we are presented with; sometimes looking in as if given a glimpse of a situation that may vanish before it’s power resonates within our field of vision; sometimes taking on the role of one of the characters, reliving a fleeting moment from our own memory. Luckily Richard’s paintings are there for us to return again and again.

The manner in which he paints reduces space to an almost childlike graphic that rides the edge of outsider art and sophisticated minimalist. Richard’s work is livable, accessible, and honest. His subject matter is men; another place where one could be cliche or pigeonholed as homoerotic, yet Richard masterfully steps past this and transforms that reading into just one element inside a true work of art. It is an honor for me to share this wonderful art and artist with you.