Corbett vs. Dempsey

works by Richard Hull

Richard Hull's two-dimensional paintings are clearly influenced by the three-dimensionality of architecture. Calling to mind the bleakly surreal, metaphysical "landscapes" of Giorgio De Chirico, Hull's work combines personal narrative with formal abstract painting.

Since the later 1970s, Hull's richly surfaced oil and wax paintings have depicted abstracted architectural interiors where towers, gabled roods, and arched doorways combine with geometric solids and intersecting planes to form a framework in which various figurative elements are situated. Color plays a significant role in creating this surreal environment. Hull tends towards deep rich hues, achieved by coating the canvas with melted beeswax before paintings. By contrasting hot and cool colors, Hull skews perspective, creating a mysterious space in which to cast his characters. The overall effect is that of a theater set, but one in which a Lewis Carrol tale might be enacted.

However, the "players" in Hull's dramas are conspicuously absent, noticeable only by their reside. In many cases a lurking shadow offers the suggestion of a figure who, presumably, is just outside the picture frame. Sometimes wrapped, mummy-like forms stand in for human actors but never reveal their true identity. Occasionally, disembodied hands, suspended in mid-air, point in conflicting directions, independent of human will Even Hull's trademark mask faces are strangely decapitated. The quality of estrangement lends psychological depth to the paintings' spatial illusionism.

At the same time, Hull's obvious concern for surface - composition, pattern, and color relationships - derives form modern formalist painting. This is apparent in his more recent canvases, which have lost some of their spatial density due to his continuing fascination with pattern and line. His paintings from the 1990s are filled with lyrical, scroll0like patterns, reminiscent of chandeliers or Art Nouveau iron grillwork popular at the turn of the century.

Born in Oklahoma City, Hull received his BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute in 1977, and his MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1979. Shortly after graduating, he attracted the attention of dealer Phyllis Kind, who began exhibiting his paintings in both her Chicago and New York galleries. At Kind's gallery, Hull joined the company of well-known Imagists such as Roger Brown, Jim Nutt, Gladys Nilsson, and Ed Paschke. Besides a number of one-person shows at Phyllis Kind Gallery, Hull's work has been exhibited across the United States. His paintings may be found in many private and public collection, including the Art Institute of Chicago, the Milwaukee Art Museum; the Nelson-Atkins Museum, Kansas City; and the San Antonio Museum of Art, Texas.

Biography by Courtenay E. Smith, from Art in Chicago 1945 - 1995