David Richard: Within and Beyond the Round

The circle is perhaps the most ancient and enduring archetype in the natural world — a symbol of wholeness, continuity and return. Yet nature itself is never still. Its every form is temporal, in motion, passing through.

This exhibition brings together these aspects of nature and consciousness.

The works ‘in the round’ -- acrylic paintings made in the tradition of action meditation after artist and healer, John Diamond, M.D. -- are born of presence and spontaneity. Some are shaped by natural amendments: sea salt, coconut oil, rain and more, with the unpredictability of materials that have their own intentions. Others are pure movement - swirls of color and light that capture the inspiration of the moment. Together they invoke the circle not as a fixed idea, but as a living presence.

The complementary works, Decompositions, speak to what lies beyond the round. Created on metal surfaces transformed by rust, fire, water, sea salt, and vinegar, they are portraits of time at work. Some shimmer with added mica pigments; others welcome the layering of natural elements or paints. None are fully controlled. All are evidence that art, like life, is subject to change, erosion, and ultimately - transformation.

What connects them is the deeper question: what endures, and what passes through?

We each move through creation as part of it - temporary in form, continuous in essence. The round holds us still even as we dissolve into it. These works are offered as a meditation on that passage: the beauty of the transient, and the eternity that contains it.