Artist Statement

“Each interpreter, in their own way, welcomes the artwork into the corporal world and cements it within their own understanding. [These] objects do not remain as objects existing in a specific time and space but function as visual and spiritual conduits. They are not distracted or preoccupied by occasion or event but engage through the experience of personal encounter, perception, and cognition. The Japanese idea of ‘ma’ where the object becomes less visible and its lacuna hosts a veiled meaning and transition offers a useful insight. [‘Ma’ is often described as the silences between musical notes]. Prolonged viewing engages the observer more as a devotional image might, creating a meditative calm, transitional or liminal experience.

The artist’s position is to refrain from placing himself at centre of the experience so maximising the beholders share in the belief and confidence that the observer will discover some inner truth or meaning for themselves.” ¹

Richard Devereux has commented, “I don’t set out wanting to do anything at all, I follow the work––it continually evolves, it knows far more than I do, I am simply the means through which it gains ‘purchase’ in the world”.

¹extract from the forthcoming essay ‘Untroubled Lines and Other Works – Richard Devereux’ by Tony Broome

About the work

The work is made by using a high-density pigment which is applied to a 100% cotton fibre membrane. By employing conventional masking methods and a variety of ‘pressure dispersal techniques’ – which have evolved over extensive periods of experimentation – the unique surface evolves as the dispersal flow is disturbed and randomised by a form of ‘particle interference’. The finished membrane is then mounted and then coated with several applications of archival, water-clear, acid-free, matt varnish.

One Person Exhibitions (UK)

2015 Continuous Now Tarpey Gallery, Castle Donington; New Works by Richard Devereux Galleri Mjøsvågen, Hosanger, Norway; 2014 Encounters Roselidden Centre for Reflection and Creativity; 2013 New Works Showing Space, Lincoln;
2012 Encounters Take Precedence Courtyard Gallery, The Collection, Lincoln
2007 This is Our Intense Desire Bend in the River, Gainsborough
2005 Works: 1995-2005 Bend in the River, Gainsborough
2004 Shadows and Other Works Maltby Art, Winchester
2003 Seeing Silence, Atrium Gallery Bournemouth University
2003 Recent Works Maltby Contemporary Art, Winchester
2002 Silent Portals Yorkshire Sculpture Park
2001 Gathering Light Maltby Contemporary Art, Winchester
2000 Thresholds Hart Gallery, London
1998 Source Hart Gallery, London
1997 Casting Visions Angel Row Gallery, Nottingham
1995 Primordium Cairn Gallery, Gloucestershire
1994 In Stillness and In Silence The Gallery in Cork Street, London
1994 In Stillness and In Silence Usher Gallery, Lincoln
1989 Beyond the Hall of Dreams New Art Centre, London
1988 On Sacred Ground Cairn Gallery, Gloucestershire
1987 Assembled Rites Artsite, Bath
1984 Circles Usher Gallery, Lincoln
1980 Recent Works Hiscock Gallery, Portsmouth
1979 Recent Works Axis Gallery Brighton

Group Exhibitions (Selected)

2017 Black Box Faux Mouvement Centre d’Art Contemporain, Metz, France; Aesthetica Art Prize (longlist) York UK;
2012 Midlands Open Tarpey Gallery, Castle Donington
2011 Midlands Open Tarpey Gallery, Castle Donington
2011 Reading Pictures Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Gallery, Nashville, USA
2011 Drawing Connections Siena Art Institute, Italy
2011 Surface Gallery Open Nottingham
2008/9 Art Loan Collection Bournmouth University
2008 New Acquisitions Usher Gallery, Lincoln
2006/7 Lacerta private gallery, Dorset
2002 The Artist’s House New Art Centre, Roche Court, Wiltshire
2001 Drawing on Our Past Angel Row Gallery, Nottingham
2001 Within a Distant Prospect Harewood House, Leeds
1999 Peter Bartlow Gallery Chicago, USA
1999 Art 99 Miami, USA
1998 20th Century British Art Fair RCA, London
1997 Distance and Proximity Cheltenham Art Gallery
1997 Elemental Visions Winchester Contemporary Art
1997 Art 28! Basel, Switzerland
1996 Art 27! Basel, Switzerland
1996 Travaux Publics Peninsula Gallery and Van Abbemuseum, Holland
1995 Art 26! Basel, Switzerland
1995 Alchemy Bury St Edmunds Art Gallery and Ickworth House, Suffolk
1994 Arco Madrid, Spain
1994 Art 25! Basel, Switzerland
1992 The Solstice Cairn Gallery, Gloucestershire
1990 The Journey Usher Gallery and Lincoln Cathedral