Exhibition Review: Richard Learoyd
RICHARD LEAROYD
Obliteration after Modigliani, 2022
unique Ilfochrome photograph and photogram
© Richard Learoyd, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco
Written by Anvita Brahmbhatt
Copyedited by Chloë Rain
Photo Edited by Julia Borges
For his fifth collaboration with Fraenkel Gallery, Richard Learoyd presents his latest works. Consisting of nudes, portraits and still-life photos taken with his camera obscura in London over the last three years, these photographs continue to work with classical themes. The photograph, Largest Poppies, depicts beautiful, colorful flowers wilting as Richard describes them ‘alive and dead at the same time.’ The bright colors bring a sense of life and rejuvenation to the flowers but as they wilt away, it suggests that their beauty is transient.
RICHARD LEAROYD
Largest poppies, 2022
unique Ilfochrome photograph
© Richard Learoyd, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco
Richard’s photography collection at Fraenkel departs from a traditional narrative and combines portraits and still life into themes of morality, change and the bare essentials of being human. The collection brings together everyday objects into Richard’s beautiful visual world where reality is different and art is everything that surrounds us.
Drawing with Straight Lines is a series of three photos that captures elephant bones in different angles. The series is constant with the subject matter, lighting and background, posing questions about morality.
RICHARD LEAROYD
Drawing with straight lines, 2021
three unique Ilfochrome photographs and photograms
© Richard Learoyd, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco
RICHARD LEAROYD
Found No. 1, 2022
unique Ilfochrome photograph
© Richard Learoyd, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco
Found no. 1 is a photograph of a bundle of rope held together by strings. The rope in itself is tied together by strings, making the function of the rope almost redundant.
Mirror, Eye, Candle, Lemon represents an eye looking into a mirror, a candle’s reflection as it is hidden by another mirror placed on a stool, and a half sliced lemon. The lemon is the only object in focus, although the viewer’s eye would be attracted to the mirrors. The mysterious eye adds another question while the lit candle stays hidden behind the cracked mirror. Richard chooses an absurd collection of objects, adding a layer of abstraction in everyday life things.
RICHARD LEAROYD
Mirror, Eye, Candle, Lemon, 2021
unique Ilfochrome photograph
© Richard Learoyd, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco
Drawing features a female nude, as she faces away from the camera, and strings surround her. Her posture is slouched and the red strings mimic blood vessels and veins. Richard demystifies the female nude as he focuses on what constitutes the nude: veins and skin. In Obliteration after Modigliani, a nude woman reclines on a stool as the red strings surround her and her hair is strewn across her face and body. An inspiration of Amedeo Modigliani’s Female Nude, Richard’s take on the woman stunned and surrounded by the makings of her body in Obliteration brings together classic art with abstraction.
RICHARD LEAROYD
Drawing, 2021
unique Ilfochrome photograph and photogram
© Richard Learoyd, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco
Born in 1966 in Lancashire, England, Richard Learoyd had a keen interest in photography from the age of 15. After graduating from the Glasgow School of Art in 1990, he was awarded an artist-in-residence at the Scottish Ballet. In 2000, he moved to London and now works as a commercial photographer. His exhibition highlights include a solo show at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles and Dark Mirror, which took place at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. Learoyd’s photographs are in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Museum of Modern Art, New York; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; Tate, London; Victoria & Albert Museum, London; among others.
Richard Leayord’s exhibition is open to view at Fraenkel Gallery in San Francisco from October 27 to December 23, 2022.
