James Cohan Gallery is pleased to announce the exhibition Fingerprint Stones by British artist Richard Long. The exhibition is comprised of 16 mud drawings on circular stones and one wall drawing made with mud from the River Avon in England. The mud drawings on stone are the first Long has made in this format and were executed in the California desert near Joshua Tree.
Central to Richard Long's work is the activity of walking. Since the mid-1960s he has taken countless walks throughout the world, in such places as the Sahara Desert, Australia, Iceland, and near his home in Bristol, England. The walks bring together physical endurance and principles of order, action, and idea. From these walks emerge the idea and material for his works. Long's sculptures commonly take the form of geometric shapes-circles, lines, ellipses, and spirals.
In the Fingerprint Stones Long continues to re-work the landscape tradition; incorporating the basic materials found in nature: stone and earth. Like the creative process as well as the walk, the circularity is paramount to Long. Circles are timeless, universal; stones are practical, common, and exist almost all over the world. "All my work is about choices," as Long has stated, "I'm interested in the emotional power of simple images."
Richard Long was born in Bristol, England in 1945. Since the late 1960s he has had innumerable solo and group exhibitions in museums and galleries throughout the world. Upcoming projects include a selected retrospective of Long's work at the Royal West of England Academy opening in May 2000 and an installation in the inaugural exhibition at the Tate Modern, Bankside which opens in London mid-May.
Beginning April 12, 2000 The Public Art Fund will present Richard Long: New York Projects, a three-part exhibition which includes: White Quartz Ellipse at Doris C. Freedman Plaza at Central Park; Brownstone Circle at Seagram Plaza (52nd Street and Park Avenue); and texts and mud drawings on New York City subway cars. This exhibition runs through June 3, 2000. For more information please contact the Public Art Fund at (212) 980-3942.