PRESS
2024
An Inviting Emptiness
Ron Rizk presents new surreal meditations on the relationship between structures and space.
Ron Rizk simplifies and abstracts homes and other buildings from his past when he builds paper models of them. Painting the models in a misty setting—sometimes the same building in different settings—he illustrates the impermanence of memory and the poetic interpretation of historical fact.
Often, he has a historical connection to the structures. His connection is infused with a dispassionate analysis of them that doesn’t include him, their makers or any other visible human presence. He says, “I have a long held interest in architectural structures and their relationship to their placement in the landscape. My intention is to depict this relationship in ways that reflect my vision of how these elements interact in contrast to one another.”
The dreamlike quality of his paintings recalls the surreal cityscapes of the Italian painter Giorgio de Chirico who wrote, “Although the dream is a very strange phenomenon and an inexplicable mystery, far more inexplicable is the mystery and aspect our minds confer on certain objects and aspects of life.”
Two paintings depict the same residential structure in two vastly different settings. In his painting From Above, an elaborate home with a towered entry is set on the shore of a body of water. The expected orientation toward the view is blocked by a large garage. A dirt driveway leads directly to the garage, implying that only the residents ever visit the home. That sensation is reinforced by two gate posts standing in the unlandscaped front yard, neither delineating a path to the front door nor supporting a gate.
When the home appears again in the suburban setting in Lost Near Knoxville it is slightly more welcoming. Paintings on the walls can be seen through the windows and a large urn is placed symmetrically between two of the windows in an attempt to personalize the façade.
The relationships between structures and landscape may not depict a welcoming atmosphere, but they welcome contemplation and the viewer’s interpretation of the relationships based on their own vivid or misty memories. The homes’ open doors welcome the viewer into their mysteries.
Ron Rizk: As I See It, an exhibition of his recent paintings, will be shown at Billis Williams Gallery in Los Angeles from June 15 through July 8, with a reception on opening day from 4 to 7 p.m.
Ron Rizk presents new surreal meditations on the relationship between structures and space.
Ron Rizk simplifies and abstracts homes and other buildings from his past when he builds paper models of them. Painting the models in a misty setting—sometimes the same building in different settings—he illustrates the impermanence of memory and the poetic interpretation of historical fact.
Often, he has a historical connection to the structures. His connection is infused with a dispassionate analysis of them that doesn’t include him, their makers or any other visible human presence. He says, “I have a long held interest in architectural structures and their relationship to their placement in the landscape. My intention is to depict this relationship in ways that reflect my vision of how these elements interact in contrast to one another.”
The dreamlike quality of his paintings recalls the surreal cityscapes of the Italian painter Giorgio de Chirico who wrote, “Although the dream is a very strange phenomenon and an inexplicable mystery, far more inexplicable is the mystery and aspect our minds confer on certain objects and aspects of life.”
Two paintings depict the same residential structure in two vastly different settings. In his painting From Above, an elaborate home with a towered entry is set on the shore of a body of water. The expected orientation toward the view is blocked by a large garage. A dirt driveway leads directly to the garage, implying that only the residents ever visit the home. That sensation is reinforced by two gate posts standing in the unlandscaped front yard, neither delineating a path to the front door nor supporting a gate.
When the home appears again in the suburban setting in Lost Near Knoxville it is slightly more welcoming. Paintings on the walls can be seen through the windows and a large urn is placed symmetrically between two of the windows in an attempt to personalize the façade.
The relationships between structures and landscape may not depict a welcoming atmosphere, but they welcome contemplation and the viewer’s interpretation of the relationships based on their own vivid or misty memories. The homes’ open doors welcome the viewer into their mysteries.
Ron Rizk: As I See It, an exhibition of his recent paintings, will be shown at Billis Williams Gallery in Los Angeles from June 15 through July 8, with a reception on opening day from 4 to 7 p.m.
2022
