Richard Watts
Richard is a land-based earth artist with his studio and work based in Southern Ontario. He was born in New Jersey and raised in the midwestern United States and on a family farm, moving to Toronto, Canada in 1987. Self-identifying as a Canadian/American artist with work bridging both countries, his art practice remains based at a live/work barn Studio in the Canadian Shield, exploring both an inner spiritual connection to nature along with environmental and climate change issues. His work has received feature print and television coverage, along with solo exhibitions and commissions.
The Studio is a developing environmental art centre, located on a wooded acreage in a large converted barn like an overturned ship on the edge of the Canadian Shield, beside the Crowe River, 40 minutes east of Peterborough and 2 hrs. from Toronto. The barn and woods combine creation, production, exhibition, and education in an environmental context.
“Pipelines” is comprised of over 15 technical drawings of various developments and pipeline systems in the Greater Toronto Area. It explores the relationship between two kinds of drawing: one schematic and linear and the other humorous, animated, and abstract expressionist. It is based on vintage water valves being replaced under the city which are cast iron and look like pot-bellied pigs.
The earth-tone palate creates an “urban song line;” an imaginary interpretation of the energy systems that sustain our buildings. It is also a reference to the “solutions” for Climate Change and the Future.
What is the plan and will it ever work? Perhaps it’s just life, and existential.
Interview with Richard Watts
