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Louis Buhl & Co. is pleased to present our latest edition by artist Richard Colman, titled Blue Figure. Typically constructing symmetrical compositions, Colman explores themes of human sexuality, societal hierarchies, life, and death. He moves freely between figuration and abstraction, at times focusing on pattern to such a degree that it overwhelms any recognizable components in his painting; other times he privileges figures and narratives.

Signature to Colman's work, Blue Figure blends figurative imagery with bold geometry and vibrant colors. Illustrating a female protagonist with a bodiless male head resting upon the palm of her hand, Colman meticulously lays out each figure in a way where it is isolated yet seamlessly interwoven into the piece. At first glance, the subjects are distinguishable. Upon closer examination, their seemingly boundless limbs gradually fuse into the work’s background, making for a complex visual narrative.

Speaking to his experience with printmaking, Colman expresses: “One of the things I enjoy most is the collaborative process of making these prints. My approach to making paintings involves dozens of shifts in tone and hue to get them to feel the way I want and results in hundreds of different colors and is a very solitary undertaking. The challenge of then taking one of these paintings and breaking it down into just a handful of colors while still keeping that same feeling takes months of back and forth with some very talented people, resulting in many drafts until we get it just right. I am always amazed at what we come up with together and find that this collaborative process then informs the next paintings I’m working on.”