{"title":"Alan Richards","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg style=\"max-height: 300px; max-width:55%\" src=\"https:\/\/helloart-prod-bucket.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com\/media\/artist\/alan-richards\/alan-richards-profile.jpg\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEver since I can remember, I’ve always had a place for art in my life. I did not choose art as a career path for a number of reasons, but my artistic bent came out in numerous ways. It showed its head during a time when making birdhouses was my passion, then scene-making making for model railroads, and then drawing city scenes using colored markers. However, it was not until the last 15 years that I truly became involved in what was to become photomontages. \r\u003cbr\u003eMy work history is not in the art world. Rather I have a background in Hearing and Speech science, which ultimately lead me to a long career as an Audiologist and a Professor of Audiology. I earned a Ph.D.  from the Graduate Center, The City University of New York. That degree lead to a professorial role at CUNY for nearly 30 years. In addition to that role, I maintained a private practice in Audiology in the Upper East Side of Manhattan for many years as well.\r\u003cbr\u003eBoth of my parents were professional artists and, apparently, some of their skills and DNA rubbed off on me. My father was a commercial artist who worked free-lance for many years in advertising art. Although he was passionate about art, the life of a working artist with deadlines, was quite taxing on him, my family, and me.  My mother was involved in oil painting and studied at the Art Student’s League in Manhattan.\r\u003cbr\u003eI did not consider a career in art for some of the reasons mentioned above. However, when family and work responsibilities were less for me the passion to create grew. Now, I consider artwork to be a second career for me, and I approach it with the same vigor I approached my work as an audiologist.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch4\u003eARTIST’S STATEMENT\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cp\u003eMy work may be classified as photomontage. It uses multiple photographic images, segments of images, drawings, vectors, or clips that are fused to create a single composite image. The images may be playful, satirical, or of a more serious nature. I try to tell a story with each image. My artwork represents the human condition. It reflects how I view events and the interaction between people and the world. \r\u003cbr\u003e\r\u003cbr\u003eMy work is primarily based on photographic images. I either take the images myself, or I use found\/vintage, or other images combined with my images. The images are supplemented by drawing to bring the various elements into a single image. I enjoy the work of Edward Hopper, Rene Magritte, and David Hockney, and see my work falling somewhere between all three artists.\r\u003cbr\u003e\r\u003cbr\u003eI look for the unusual in a person or persons. It's not whether a person is fat or skinny, one color or another, or any other physical attribute. It's a special aspect of an individual that makes them appear to me to be special. It's their human quality that attracts me.\r\u003cbr\u003e\r\u003cbr\u003eI do not have a set pattern about how an image grows. I guess it is organic in that elements of the final image change over the time I'm working on the picture. Sometimes, an entire background will change, or elements will be added or deleted. The end goal is to create an image with visual interest. I may start out with some notion of the potential look of the final piece, but that often changes as the piece progresses.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[],"url":"https:\/\/helloart.com\/fr\/collections\/alan-richards.oembed","provider":"helloart","version":"1.0","type":"link"}