Richard Wathen

At first glance, Richard Wathen’s paintings appear to be quirky twenty-first century interpretations of historical modes of portraiture, whose hybrid styles borrow from the likes of Thomas Gainsborough, Otto Dix, Albrecht Dürer, and many others. Waifish bodies dressed in period clothing with ghastly pale skin float on monochromatic backgrounds, often holding curious props and just barely avoiding the audience’s gaze. Ultimately the composite nature reveals itself as fundamentally absurd, and the eerie unnaturalness creates a distinct unease in the viewer, a reaction explicitly courted by the artist. For Wathen, his portraits—constructed by fragmented memories, found photos and resonant images—are material reflections of his own personal anxieties and excitements about the solitary and mystical process of creating art. He injects numerous autobiographical references such as the recurring rabbit motif, which represents the artist’s interest in the emotional disconnect between pet and owner and conjures the problematic relationship between self and other.

Walthen’s work has been exhibited at institutions including the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, the Kunsthalle Krems in Austria, and London’s Royal Academy of Arts.