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On July 5th of 1968, Richard Campbell was born
in Los Angeles, California. After only a year,
upon discovering that there are no significant
changes in the weather in that region, he
insisted upon moving east. His family then
brought him to Cooperstown, New York (home of
the Baseball Hall of Fame) which ensured his
repugnance for sports. Richard preferred to
create comic books, spent most of his energy in
his art classes (the rest in the company of
friends that his mother undoubtedly disapproved
of) and dreamed of being a film maker.
In 1986, Richard had the opportunity of turning
down a scholarship to Munson-William-Proctor
Arts Institute. He had won first place in the
Otsego County Art Competition. It is unclear
whether it was the laboriously long name of the
institution that repulsed Richard from accepting
the scholarship or if it was the fear that such
an exciting and dangerous town as Utica, New
York would distract him from his studies. He
chose, instead, to go to the University of the
Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Richard
would learn many things during his stay in
Philadelphia; most importantly, the incredible
expense of making films.
Abandoning filmmaking in 1995, Campbell returned
to painting. After experimenting with
compositions combining abstract expressionism
and surrealism, he began to develop a distinct
style. In 1998 he moved to Paris with his wife,
poet Kristan Campbell, where he acquired a
residency at the Muse-Atelier Adzak. It was
here, under the strange eye of it's eccentric
proprietor, Margaret Crowther and the ever
present and watchful ghost of founder Roy Adzak,
that Campbell's style came to maturity.
Upon his return to the States in '99, he settled
in NYC. Here the work took on a new dimension
involving a complex layering of collage and oil.
Simultaneously, Campbell began developing the
earlier gouache and varnish style of Paris into
a series of satirical holiday greeting cards.
Currently he has expanded his repertoire and is
now including holidays not previously explored
(namely, Valentine's day for the moment) and
hopes to include personalized birthday cards
made to order. |
