Lady in Red

Richly detailed, utterly unique, and decidedly alluring, Alan M Richards’ "Lady in Red" collapses the boundaries between human and environment, figuration and abstraction, and the animate and the inanimate. I cannot tell for sure from the image, but her hands seem to be photographs overlaid on the paper (I am very curious about the technique and would love to learn more about it from Richards!). She fits squarely into the brick wall yet maintains an individuality by means of her expertly rendered features and the wall’s reaction to her inclusion in its red and white surface. Even though she is part of the wall in some sense, it does not define her. In fact, she defines the wall. It bends and warps around her body, or, more accurately, it describes her body. They maintain a remarkable separation while being inseparably attached. I love how this work challenges human perception and the very difference between life and object (kind of like painting itself). 

Amazing work!