Hey, remember our friend Richard J Oliver? The artist?

This time last year, I wrote about his “When Hope Turns to Ashes” exhibition at Known Gallery. This Saturday night, Oliver opens his next show, “This Too Shall Pass,” at Known.

“I have spent the past year studying the works of influential thinkers and writers such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Ernest Holmes and I have concluded that I must trust myself,” Oliver states, “…I began to create paintings without a predetermined conscious selections of the subject matter, and instead put emphasis on my trust in my visual response to the world around me. I also allowed the conversation with the works themselves to dictate the direction, so in essence, guided by an infinite intelligence, they paint themselves, albeit by my hand…”

Richard is one of my favorite artists in the now, partly for his technique and eye, but also for the depth and thoughtfulness of his paintings.  You know me, the analysis and storytelling go a long way in defining and communicating art.  It’s that intellectual capacity that sets Richard J Oliver apart.