Scott Richards Contemporary Art is proud to present OUTLIER, its first solo exhibition of recent paintings and sculpture by renown, Los Angeles abstract painter, Charles Arnoldi. Taking place during San Francisco Art Week and FOG Art Fair, the exhibition opens with a reception for the artist on Saturday, January 20, from 4 – 6 pm and continues through February 24, 2024.
A versatile, ever evolving artist, known for working with non-traditional materials,
Arnoldi has carved his own distinctive presence in the history of contemporary abstraction, successfully blurring the lines between painting and sculpture while maintaining a constantly expanding vocabulary of artistic expression. His continued, intuitive, and physical approach to making art is evident in the solo exhibition on view at Scott Richards Contemporary Art.
Arnoldi’s gusto for deconstructing and redefining the pictorial plane is clearly manifested in the larger-than-life wall reliefs at the forefront of the exhibition (Missionary and Urban Planning). Rendered in thick acrylic paint, bright colors, and deeply jagged surfaces, these works circle back to the artist’s earlier iconic “chainsaw paintings” but are carved from light polyethene foam. However, the other works on display, signal a clear departure from his previous compositions and present a new, free form approach to either sculpture or painting.
In stark contrast to the two monumental paintings, Arnoldi presents a few recent wood sculptures of modest proportions that bear the mark of the ax and the line of the saw. Beautiful in their simplicity, these works serve as building blocks to his recent explorations, their rough-hewn forms mirrored by several acrylic on canvas paintings (Passion, Shoot Out). Depicting an engaging play on visual perspective, these works clearly reflect a deeply rooted sculptural practice, surprising the viewer with juxtaposing, irregular shapes, bold colors, and energetic patterns that cleverly seem to pop in and out of perspective.
For close to 50 years, Charles Arnoldi has reflected a commitment to experimentation, and a tireless focus on studio production. Having studied at Chouinard Art Institute, he began his ever-evolving career by winning LACMA’s New or Young Talent Award in 1969. In 1972 he was invited to participate in Harald Szeemann’s seminal Documenta V in Kassel, Germany, and went on to receive two NEA Artist Fellowships, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a Maestro Grant from the California Arts Council. His works can be found in the collections of many major museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, The Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, The National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, The Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, and the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, California.
