Richard Hambleton’s Street Art, “Shadowman”, is painted on walls, buildings, doors and pretty much anything you can imagine throughout the world. He started painting his incredible, life size figures in the East Village of NYC in the late 1970’s and worked off and on until he passed in 2017. His dancing, figures exude energy and one can imagine the break dancers on the corner with their beat boxes, performing on the street; splatters and spray accentuating their movements. Conveying a darker, more ominous mood, his figures lurk in alleys and dimly lit doorways, sometimes, even falling from the top of a building. There is a great show of his work currently at The Chase Contemporary Gallery in NYC, (521 W.23rd St.), where I saw these pieces, October 31st – December 7th, 2019.
Stay tuned as I am working on some figures of my own, Hambleton inspired. The spontaneity, the simplicity of only two colors, the energy, the incredible, life size compositions, all amaze me. I am starting on a smaller scale and will see how it goes. The impact of the life sized pieces is intriguing and I love to work big, (or at least that would be big for me). If you haven’t been to my website lately, click the link and prowl around! cynthiamcloughlin.com
