Artego is pleased to announce The Thing About Things, a solo exhibition of new paintings by Richard Pasquarelli. This is the artist’s first presentation with the gallery.
Richard Pasquarelli’s paintings make visible the relationships between physical reality and the mind. Through analysis of his own compulsions for perfection and order, and research into mental health, the physical sciences, and philosophy, Pasquarelli seeks a better understanding of the relationship between mind and matter and its observable presence in the world around us.
As part of his research, Pasquarelli has immersed himself in the study of OCD and hoarding disorder by conducting field research in the homes of people affected by these conditions. The knowledge gained through his interviews and the thousands of photographs he has taken during his visits have become integral parts of his process. By creating artworks based on these spaces, Pasquarelli has come to perceive our physical surroundings as a manifestation of the psyche. His paintings are more than representations of people’s possessions, they are portraits of their minds.
In The Thing About Things, Pasquarelli presents us with two recent bodies of work: his Collection series and his Relic series.
Pasquarelli’s Collection paintings are based on the thousands of photographs he takes during his visits in the homes of those affected by hoarding disorder. Although these paintings are depictions of real environments, Pasquarelli transforms these chaotic spaces into appealing and orderly still lives. Color plays a vital role in this series. By using intense and seductive color, Pasquarelli transforms what appear to be piles of random objects into beautiful formal compositions, mirroring the allure felt by the individual who collected them.
Intrigued by the ways that we often save broken objects after they no longer serve their function, Pasquarelli has observed that our attachment is not so much to the object itself, but rather, to the meaning or memories we associate with it. Pasquarelli’s Relic paintings explore these psychological relationships and the import with which we imbue inanimate objects. These paintings bring those associations to life. Embedded within each painting is an original film Pasquarelli has created that is revealed through augmented reality technology on a mobile device. What appear to be traditional still-life oil paintings become liaisons to a past remembered.
