Richard Amend

Born in New York, Richard Amend received a BFA from Cooper Union. He moved to Los Angeles with a full scholarship to the California Institute of the Arts Graduate Program as a conceptual artist in 1971. He promptly changed course to concentrate on painting. His work from the 1970s focused on systemic procedure with expressionistic pattern paintings based loosely on mathematical grid systems. In the 1980s, a career in film led to extensive travel and location scouting. In the process of photographing sites for various projects, he found a new opportunity for painting.

Richard Amend's current work has evolved as a result of his work as a production designer in the film business. In the process of photographing sites for various projects, he found a new opportunity for painting. Designing sets requires a lot of rendering and an original joy for drawing was rekindled. There is stillness, the capturing of a singular moment, and a particular quality of light that challenges Richard in his process. His paintings are visually arresting, mysterious equations of nature, architecture, and illumination all rolled into the stillness and clarity of singular, psychological moments in time.