After studying at NY's School of Visual Arts under art mentors Gilbert L. Stone and Jonathan Borofsky, Ritchard Rodriguez ventured off to Aspen Colorado where he was invited to exhibit for the very first time (at its Jerome Gallery). He returned to New York for a few years, only to relocate at Gil Stone’s encouragement to West Berlin, followed two years later by Hamburg, cities in both sides of a divided Germany. Still a realist he was fascinated by artists such as Otto Dix of the Neue Sachlichkeit movement and how it had evolved within contemporary Germany, likewise bewildered by the Neue Wilde and other schools of new expressionism around him. Having been associated with the art dealer of Oscar winning Swiss artist Hans Giger, Rodriguez landed himself his own art dealers, that of Michel Ozenne in Paris and Jan de Maere in Brussels, who aside from granting him a solo show in Paris' first arrondissement would also include him in the FIAC at the Grand Palais and the Auction House Elkaim, L’Isle-Adam. Eventually, after four well-spent years in Germany, Rodriguez would find himself working within the French capital including six months in Conflans-Ste-Honorine for the next four years.
“I was a realist for a good 15 years, trained in the ways of the old masters by the late Gilbert Stone, primarily seduced by the Dutch. Before the eight years that I would spend in Europe I met Lisa de Kooning, friend of friends, in 1979, so became aware of her father, yet another Dutch artist. In fact, both de Kooning and Kline* eventually fed my emancipation from the restrictions of academic realism, and in time I jumped off the cliff of a comfort zone with a hand glider of my own invention with no regrets. (*Ironically, the final work I rendered while living in Paris as a realist paid tribute to Nijinsky’s Rite of Spring, ironic because I was to discover that Franz Kline, married to an English dancer who would likewise be committed as was the Russian dancer, inspired his final work as a realist, Nijinsky as Petrouchka.)”
In some respects Kline, Krasner and the final works of Joan Mitchell did even more for Rodriguez as he braved this new journey. During the years spent in France the paint took over as Rodriguez discovered freedom within his own abstraction, substituting figures with strokes or combinations of strokes, exploring the linen he faced with a preferable honesty, "painting from the heart and guts". He made New York his home and work place once again, though likewise taking his art materials to tropical Brazil for many winters to come. The work segued as a result from an industrial edge that included collage and photography along with his oils, to that of pure abstractions, color and light.
Rodriguez continues to exhibit nationally and internationally, even enjoying the success of being "presented among 10 other artists who participated in Princess Stephanie of Monaco's annual auction to raise funds for her charity, Fight AIDS Monaco. His two paintings were bought by a Monegasque art collector on 1st December 2007 at the auction in Monte Carlo in the presence of the Princess and her brother, Prince Albert II. Ritchard has a very particular and unique approach toward the canvas while painting. Each of his work is an emotional story that belongs to his heart and echoes ours." — Marie-Laetitia Lesaffre (curator).
“When I entered NY's High School of Art & Design I aspired to be a comic-book artist upon graduation. By the time of my final term there, I bought a box of oil paints that changed my life for good, taking a sharp turn towards fine arts, Surrealism, Old Masters, the Dutch, the German Expressionists and Neue Sachlichkeit, the Abstract Expressionists, etc., culminating with my very own abstraction. Now in my 41st year of painting I continue my passionate diligence straight ahead, enjoying the trail I leave behind.”
