ARTIST INFORMATION

Richard Singer has been creating paintings in the northwest for over 30 years. In 1989 and 1990, he was elected president of the Northwest Watercolor Society. He no longer does "straight" watermedia painting, opening his artworks to other media, such as charcoal and pastel powders and altered photo images.

He has won awards in many northwest art shows over the years. He has been asked to show his work in invitational shows such as the Year 2000 NWWS 60th Anniversary Show at the Frye Museum and the Bellevue Art Museum's watercolor invitational in 1990.

His paintings are many-layered and complex in the background areas, often with quickly executed last strokes to finish the work off with a burst of energy.

Richard Singer was an art student at both the University of Washington and Cornish School of the Arts in Seattle. His strongest influences came from meetings with Kenneth Callahan, William Wiley and Katherine Chang Liu. He has particularly admired the art of J.M.W. Turner, Paul Klee and Robert Rauschenburg.

The Wild Brush Series, started in 2005, is influenced by Japanese writing which is derived from ancient Chinese pictographic characters. Singer does not attempt to copy Kanji characters, but makes up some of his own, executed with hand-made brushes. The transferred photo images often provide a window into the past.

Richard Singer is progressively putting fewer and fewer limits on the art works he creates. For example, he creates "Island Boxes" as well as paintings. The boxes enclose a miniature world he wants to show.