Harold Reddicliffe: Recent Paintings At Hirschl & Adler Modern

Hirschl & Adler Modern is pleased to announce the opening of Harold Reddicliffe: Recent Paintings on September 11, 2014. Reddicliffe’s second solo show at Hirschl & Adler Modern will feature more than twenty still lifes in oil. In these new works, Reddicliffe continues his intense exploration of an eclectic collection of objects including glass bottles, kitchen gadgets, vintage film equipment, and model airplane engines, indulging us with a riot of bright color and rich confections of space and form.

Reddicliffe’s objects are minimally staged and tightly placed within formally constructed compositions. Each object is painted with rigor and precision. Reddicliffe does notemploy photography in his work, but rather paints through long periods of observation inhis studio, studying the form of his objects and how they relate to one another. The result is a transformation; taken out of their utilitarian context the objects shed theirprimary identities and invite fresh interpretation. Reddicliffe likens this process torepeating the same word over and over; eventually the word loses its meaning andbecomes simply a sound. Similarly, through prolonged scrutiny Reddicliffe’s objects undergo a detachment of their own, proudly reasserting themselves as objects ofbeauty and fascination.

Opera Glasses and Film Canister experiments with a multitude of objects on a small scale. Reddicliffe carefully positions each form, placing the smallest at the front and thelarger layered behind. Easily identifiable are silver push pins, a red opera glasses case,and a canary yellow film canister. Other objects are more mysterious, peeking out from behind various forms we see a yellow propeller, electrical cords, and the accordion bellows of a vintage camera. The tight cluster of objects are warmly lit in a manner thatlends the composition a theatrical quality, as if the objects are actors upon a stage,presenting themselves before a captivated audience. 

In Ice Crusher, Coffee Pots, and Bottles a collection of objects huddle together,competing for space, their curved forms edging over a small wooden table. Captured isa moment in time, where palpable surfaces and intricate details heightened by reflectionand shadow command intense observation. The overlapping colored glass vesselsdistort the opaque tin pots tucked behind them, while a lone cup, front and center,draws the viewer into the arrangement. Once there, the viewer cannot help beingtransfixed and mesmerized by the experience. 

Born in Houston in 1947, Harold Reddicliffe received his B.A. from Williams College,and his M.F.A. in 1973 from the Hoffberger School of Painting at the Maryland InstituteCollege of Art. Reddicliffe’s teaching includes positions at the Columbus College of Artand Design, Ohio from 1977-1984, and Boston University’s College of Fine Arts from1987-2011. He has been the recipient of two fellowships from the National Endowmentfor the Arts and a grant from the Artist’s Resource Trust. Reddicliffe’s work has beenincluded in solo and group exhibitions across the country and sought after by private collectors and public institutions.  
Harold Reddicliffe: Recent Paintings opens on Thursday, September 11 and runs through Saturday, October 11, 2014.  Located in the landmark Crown Building at the world-famous corner of 57th Street and Fifth Avenue, Hirschl & Adler Modern is open Monday through Friday, from 9:30 am to 4:45 pm. and beginning Saturday, September20, Tuesday through Friday, from 9:30 am to 5:15 pm.

For additional information or images, contact Shelley Farmer, Director, or ChelseaLarson at 212-535-8810 (phone) / 212-772-7237 (fax), or by email [email protected] or [email protected].  Please visit our website at www.HirschlAndAdler.com for an online preview of the exhibition.