Richard Anderson: Characteristics

A friend and collector of Harrison Center artist Justin Vining, Richard Anderson considers the Harrison Center his second home. An Illinois resident, Anderson's first experience with the Harrison Center was as a patron who would travel to Indy for Vining's exhibits. Justin encouraged him to apply to the HCA's annual color-themed group shows which eventually led to a show of his own in Hank & Dolly's Gallery this month. We hope you enjoy the work of Richard Anderson (3D glasses included!). We are open from 9am-5pm, Monday through Friday.

All artists have a “thing.” Something within their work you can point to. Whether it is the introspective phrasing of Miles Davis, the simple directness of Hemingway, or the pastel light in a Monet. These “things” are characteristics. They are the connective tissue of an artist’s career. Over my relatively short time creating art there exists a single defining element. Characters. The work filling this room is populated with characters, which for most, will appear as just lines on canvas.

My work flows from within. It was born of my childhood attempts at writing Arabic, while living in the Middle-East.  These attempts evolved over decades into something all its own. Most days it is a puzzle. Characters and colors constantly play across my consciousness. At times, I almost ache over assembling the puzzle in my head prior to paint meeting canvas. The background goes down…and the game is on. Metallic characters? Oil characters? Acrylic this time? Or better yet a mix of media? The work is Zen-like. It flows.

And as I work, often, those alienesque characters form words and phrases. In almost all of the work shown here there are hidden messages. Some are a bit obvious, some are in my own personal font, and some are written in a way only I will ever know they exist. For me these lines, dots, and dashes, and what they say, or don’t say, are the ties that bind. They are my characteristics.

–Richard Anderson