A SENSE OF PLACE:
Paintings by Richard Remenick

August 5 - 21, 2021

Gertrude Stein famously remarked, upon being shown a shopping mall in Oakland, “There’s no there there”.  Many years later, it seems that there’s no “there” anywhere! Today’s physical environment creates an odd sense of “placelessness” and homogeneity. Our sense of intimate relationship with the created world has been ruptured and this rupture has a dehumanizing effect on all of us. I consider it my job as a painter to restore that sense of intimacy and human capacity to create a sense of place. By “place” I do not mean an abstract empty expanse, but a space infused with affect and significance, a true “habitat for humanity”. Nor do these “places” need to be grand monuments. They could be as modest as a dirty sink in a corner of a room, an abandoned industrial building, or a single tree in a field. Even though this experience of place is intimate and private, I believe it is the only basis for a truly human and social existence. I hope that the viewers of these paintings can experience again a “there” that’s truly “there”.

- Richard Remenick

Elizabeth Denison Hatch Gallery