Richard Hambleton “SHADOWMAN”

Chase Contemporary (521 W23rd St.)

poster for Richard Hambleton “SHADOWMAN”
[Image: Richard Hambleton "Five Shadow Figures" (2003) Acrylic on canvas. 77 1/2 x 125 in.]

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Chase Contemporary presents a solo exhibition of paintings and limited edition prints by pioneering urban conceptual artist Richard Hambleton. The exhibition will feature a selection of paintings from Hambleton’s Shadowman and Horse & Rider series, including early paintings from the 1980s through the late 2000s. Richard Hambleton: SHADOWMAN.

The exhibition chronicles the development of Hambleton’s most iconic series of “Shadowmen” compositions, paired with his coveted “Horse & Rider (Marlboroman)” paintings that captured a contemporary spirit of the American west. In 1979, Hambleton moved permanently to the Lower East Side of New York. It was here that he gained notoriety for his figurative “Shadowman” paintings. Over the course of the next decade, his ominous silhouettes typically painted in unsuspecting corners, alleys, and side streets had appeared in over six hundred locations in major cities including New York City, London, Paris, as well as both sides of the Berlin Wall.

A departure from the spontaneity of the traditional street tag, Hambleton’s paintings were site-specific conceptual works intended to provoke unsuspecting pedestrians with a sobering moment of contemplation. Hambleton is widely considered to be the “godfather” of this type of expressionist street art.

Hambleton’s first solo exhibition opened in the Lower East Side of New York in 1982, and just two years later he was included in the Venice Biennale. He was included again at the Venice Biennale in 1988. In 2009, the works of Hambleton were displayed in an exhibition celebrating the artist’s 40-year career entitled, “Richard Hambleton - New York.” The exhibition toured to multiple venues that included the Moscow Museum of Modern Art. “Shadowman,” a film about the artist by director Oren Jacoby, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 21 2017 and opened to critical acclaim.

Richard Hambleton (b. Vancouver, Canada 1954-2017) was one of the most prominent and influential figures of the downtown New York art scene. After receiving his Bachelors of Fine Arts in painting and art history from the Emily Carr School of Art in 1974, Hambleton launched his “Mass Murder” series. The series was painted on the streets of over fifteen cities across Canada and the United States. This marked the beginning of a career dedicated to social experimentation and conceptual art.

His work can be found in the permanent collections of the Checkpoint Charlie Museum and The Zellermeyer in Berlin; The Andy Warhol Museum; Austin Museum of Art; Milwaukee Art Museum; The New Museum of Contemporary Art; The Brooklyn Museum; The Queens Museum; and Harvard University. Hambleton has been featured in ArtForum, Art in America, The International Herald Tribune, The New York Times, Architectural Digest, LIFE Magazine, and in the Taschen book “Trespass: A History of Uncommissioned Public Art.” A series of shows titled “Richard Hambleton - Retrospective” - traveled across four continents in collaboration with Giorgio Armani. Hambleton continued to live and work in New York until his death in 2017.

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Schedule

from October 31, 2019 to November 17, 2019

Opening Reception on 2019-10-31 from 18:00 to 20:00

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