Written by Michael Klein, Owner & Director
Michael Klein is best known for his work and achievements in the field of contemporary art. As both a dealer and curator, he has had a long and distinguished career as a New York gallery owner and director, representing an international roster of emerging and mid-career artists. He became the first in-house curator for Microsoft Corp.
When I saw Richmond Burton’s work for the first time, now three decades ago, he had shown a group of black paintings with Simon Watson, whose gallery in Soho was still an art destination back then. What followed over the course of his career were at least three dozen solo shows and works placed in collections across the country.
Today, Burton has moved from city life to a rural studio in upstate New York. Why? “The quality of light is remarkable,” he says, “and that light informs my colors and the subtle dramatics of each work.” An overview he showed me included images ranging from cool black and white works to intense pictures in bright yellow, red, or deep Prussian blue. As he continued to explain, “These canvases reflect the changing light of the seasons visible in the wooded landscape surrounding my home and studio.”
From there has blossomed a remarkable body of work, both self-reflexive and reactive to a world undergoing changes. An artist does not work in isolation. He or she reacts to or responds to the world through personal thoughts, feelings, and of course, points of view.
Burton’s path of abstraction is a balance between the structure of a grid and the flowering and flow of expressionist color and paint. There is a wonderful interweave, a balance between the two processes. The structure, of course, is the result of his training as an architect, while the painterly aspects come from years of looking at and observing the works of other painters, chiefly the New York School. Two other strong influences on his thinking and work are the writings of Susan Sontag and the philosophy of Herbert Marcuse. In fact, his friendship with Sontag was key to shaping his ideals and personal viewpoints as a painter, coursing his emotions through the power of color and form.
Marcuse, who at one time lived with Sontag, wrote about “the realization of man’s erotic nature as the true liberation of humanity.” Art can certainly be erotic. It seduces, liberating one from the ordinary into something extraordinary. The aim of the artist is to create such an experience. Burton’s paintings have become such an experience, the pleasure of looking, feeling, and sensing the temperament of each canvas.
After years of looking at his work, I was able, in 2002, to purchase Vanitas, painted in 2000, for the Microsoft Collection, a collection dedicated to an international roster of emerging and mid-career artists. The painting hung outside Bill Gates’ office, something to delight the eye before meeting with the boss, I imagined. Along with this acquisition, we added some works on paper to give employees a broader picture of Burton’s talents.
Saving abstraction from the clichés of modernism, flat painterly all-over works, or the problem of abstraction being reduced to mere décor, Burton has experimented with various methods of bringing imagery to his canvas, finding visual solutions for statements that were not simply about abstract forms but contained an expressive purpose and manifestation.
If there is total acceptance of all kinds of work, styles, and orientations, what is the historic catalyst that separates one generation from the next, from one movement to the next? By the 90s and continuing today, the art world has absorbed everything. The fact that something was new seems to be what heralded its fortune or misfortune. Acceptance became the rule, yet that acceptance became a habit, with nothing truly distinguishing one artist from the next other than who might be representing them.
Burton’s most recent paintings of the last few years have focused on the chance results of a computer shifting and altering the structure of a drawing. That reorganization via software has made its way to the canvas, pushing and pulling his often used grid into a new, seemingly stretched and realigned format. Rhythm and structure are explored so that the painting becomes a marriage between the artist’s hand and the computer’s measurements. The studies’ digital prints, if you will, are stored as a kind of visual library of possibilities for new works down the line.
Most recently, Burton has been occupied with three commissions from a patron enamored with the artist’s work. Characteristically Burton, these canvases display his resolute passion for color and its application across a grid of diagonals. Each showcases exuberance, measured by the vibrancy of its primary colors.
When it was finished, the most recent commission for his client hung in the studio, awaiting the photographer. Heart to Mind is the third commission made by the artist’s patron, a young man who loves art and discovered he could commission works rather than just shop for them. This is rather novel in today’s art world of fairs, high power galleries, and the seemingly endless chatter of social media, yet there are other ways to collect. This Southwest collector is passionate about art, specifically Burton’s paintings. The dialogue between the two, artist and patron, is unique and historic in many ways since there is no middleman involved, just the two men discussing the work and where they will hang each painting.
Conductor (2024), the largest of the three works, is now installed at the patron’s home. It is a prime example of Burton’s ongoing exploration of the use of a computer generated grid format. That element matches the intuitive selections of colors and the gestures of the brush. The three part process must balance in order to stand as a finished work, and it does so admirably in this trio of paintings.
Peggy Guggenheim commissioned Jackson Pollock for a mural for her apartment. The Four Seasons commissioned Mark Rothko for their restaurant. Philip Johnson commissioned Andy Warhol for the New York State Pavilion at the 1964 World’s Fair. Now, these three new paintings by Burton have a home, and perhaps, over time, they will find a public venue to educate and fascinate a museum audience.
Read more from Michael Klein
Michael Klein, Owner & Director
Michael Klein's expertise lies in his role as a private art dealer and freelance, independent curator for individuals, institutions, and arts organizations. Today, Michael Klein Arts works with a diverse group of artists, estates, galleries, and non-profit institutions, providing management, curatorial, and other consulting services. At the same time, the company serves institutional as well as private collectors, focusing on developing collections of emerging, mid-career, and established artists. The company also organizes traveling exhibitions both in the United States and abroad.
