Artist Paul Richmond has been making oil paintings since he was four years old. From his early years in a small midwestern town, where he faced bullying and homophobia, to his rise as a celebrated queer artist and activist, Richmond’s story is one of resilience and triumph. His art, known for its bold colors and dynamic compositions, often explores aspects of his personal journey, blending realism with surreal and symbolic elements. His new book "Star Gazing" chronicles his past forty years of art-making, showing the evolution of his style from childhood to the present day.
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Mary Poppins, oil on canvas, 1984 (age 4)
"My memories of being a four-year-old are a little fuzzy. In fact, much of my childhood exists only in an impressionistic form now, like a Monet painting viewed at close proximity. There are dabs of color, thousands of them actually, but few concrete images. However, some of my brightest and most intense childhood memories took place in the home of my Golden Teacher."
This was Paul's first oil painting at age four when he began taking art lessons from his mentor, Linda Regula.
The Passage, acrylic and oil on canvas, 1996 (age 16)
"The Passage represented my fears about the future, not knowing where my life would lead. I was afraid that my eighteenth birthday would be like walking through a wall and I would instantly become an adult. The colorful, imaginative world I inhabited as a child would be forever lost to me as I entered the scary, treacherous world of adulthood, filled with grown-up decisions and pressures. At the same time, I was also eager to peek around that wall, hoping that I might see a path that would lead me somewhere that I could truly feel like I belonged. After all, as frightening as the unknown aspects of adulthood seemed, could anything really be worse than high school?"
Watching Time Pass Me By, watercolor and colored pencil on coquille board, 2002 (age 22)
"A trip to Florence and Rome greatly expanded my worldview and provided inspiration for a series of mixed media pieces that introduced a new layer of self expression to my work. I was overwhelmed by the history and the presence of art everywhere during that trip, and I became particularly fascinated by the wear and tear that was evident on outdoor sculptures. On one hand, it was sad to see ancient works of art eroding away before my eyes, but the weathering also seemed to add a different kind of beauty—one that spoke to the impermanance of art and life."
A World Apart, oil and acrylic on canvas, 2007 (age 27)
"A World Apart deals with the period of my life when I began to discover that in order to survive, I had to suppress all of my thoughts and feelings, burying them deep within myself. I employed this survival skill as a way of responding to the pain of separation that I felt—the separation between myself and my peers, the separation between who I was and who I thought my family wanted me to be."
The Dollypop Guild, oil, acrylic, and rhinestones on canvas, 2011 (age 31)
"The Dollypop Guild was painted for an exhibit at World of Wonder Gallery called Dollypop, with works by numerous artists inspired by Dolly Parton. I based mine on the scene from 'The Wizard of Oz' when Dorothy meets Glinda—only we're not in Kansas anymore, Toto! Dorothy's replaced by a young boy (wearing an oversized pair of red stilettos, of course) who is watching his idol, Dolly Parton, descend in a big, pink bubble to welcome him to Dollywood! I really enjoyed the opportunity to weave together my own personal narrative with cultural references from the past and present."
Time For Me To Fly, oil on canvas, 2012 (age 32)
"Time For Me To Fly represented my desire to fly free of the gray cubicle and boring meetings that consumed the majority of my day, but still feeling bolted to the floor like a carousel horse."
Aftermath, oil on canvas, 2014 (age 34)
"I created the series War Paint because I was interested in exploring the concept of identity—how we construct our sense of self and choose to reveal it to others. I grew up feeling inadequate by the standards of masculinity that were presented to me. War Paint was about ignoring the status quo and boldly wearing the colors that represent who we are and how we relate to the world around us."
Spark, oil on canvas, 2017 (age 37)
"Artist Andrea Monroe, the subject of my painting Spark, talked to me about the struggle of learning to embrace her natural hair after a lifetime of being encouraged to use chemicals to alter it. So we decided to make her hair a focal point of her portrait."
In The Moment, oil on canvas, 2017 (age 37)
"Growing into my authentic self was a process, especially untangling all of the protective barriers I had built around myself over the years. I knew that I still had some work to do on my relationship with the construct of masculinity if I was going to knock down those walls and open myself up to a deeper understanding of my own gender identity. I decided to do a series of all-male portraits as an exploration of masculinity in a variety of manifestations—from the toxic to the fragile."
Departure, oil on canvas, 2018 (age 38)
"Departure, is a painting of myself as a child, riding away from my childhood home on a tricycle heading toward a distant theme park. The inclusion of the tricycle, which shows up again later in the series too, was inspired by my dad. I didn't realize that he had kept my childhood tricyle, and shortly before he passed away, he completely restored it. My mom sent it to me as a keepsake, and I knew I had to paint it."
Out of the Shadows, oil on canvas, 2019 (age 39)
"There is so much rich symbolism in masks, whether they're hiding something or revealing something. I decided to portray diverse figures who thrive within the outskirts of mainstream society despite being regarded as invisible by the conservative patriarchy."
Susie Berteaux, Monterey County, oil and collage on canvas, 2020 (age 40)
"With the 2020 election looming, I chose to create a series of paintings for a show called Voter Profile at Not Sheep Gallery. The works portrayed individuals from historically disenfranchised groups who would have been denied the right to vote at some point in our nation’s history. Some of the models were still unable to vote at the time of their portrait. Each figure was painted on top of collaged ballots and voting pamphlets from a significant election in their group’s history."
Reaching For The Light, oil on canvas, 2023 (age 43)
"Reaching for the Light is a tribute to my mentor, Linda, but it's also my story, and one that I share with my students too. We're all connected through this beautiful cycle of mentorship. I remember a painting Linda made of herself as a young girl lying on a hillside at night reaching up for the stars. I decided to recreate it with a young version of myself. I filled the sky with constellation images from some of her paintings that made a deep impression on me. Many of her works were lost in a tragic studio fire, but they are alive in my mind and in my hand every time I take a brush to a canvas."
Star Gazing: The First 40 Years of My Life As An Artist by Paul Richmond
