88 Second Ave

View Similar Items

Luis Alexander Rodríguez (Ie-Xiua) - Presence - portrait of a moment - oil painting on blue background

Jenny Toth - Dreams of Red Macaw, bright, colorful abstract work with bird

Ferenc Erdok - Hotelscene with Ghost- 21st Century Contemporary Painting of a game with nude

Ramonn Vieitez de Lima - Eden, Hands Painting

Erin Parish - The Dreamers of the Dreams / acrylic and resin on canvas - blue triptych

Elaine Badgley Arnoux - The Fox Went Out One Stormy Night - 72 x 66 inches

Ed Smith - Drop, Orange and Colorful Abstract Bird Painting, Oil on Canvas

Ed Smith - Fall from Grace, Colorful Abstract Animal Painting, Oil on Canvas

Ed Smith - Rights of Spring, b y Ed Smith, Colorful Oil on Canvas with Birds and Flora

Michele Mikesell - Hildebrand, Abstract figurative oil on canvas, Animal-human, soft background

Donna McGinnis - Spring

Maria Jose Concha - Geografia del color Nocturno, Purple sunset hues, abstract ladscape oil painting

1 of 4

Richard Britell
88 Second Ave
2014

About the Item

88 Second Avenue is an original painting on canvas in colors of beige, grey, and rust. On what many would consider ordinary New York City architecture, this Lower East Side apartment building has so many wonderful little details that only a true observer would focus on it. This particular painting looks truly three dimensional like it was broken off the building and hung on a wall. Richard Britell, a career painter, studied at Pratt Institute with Philip Pearlstein and Walter Erlebacher. His first show in NYC at Staempfli Gallery was sold out, and reviewed in the New York Times by Hilton Kramer. Mr. Britell says of one of his early experiences as an artist, "I am not a New Yorker. This came home to me the first time I ever entered a gallery to show my portfolio. It was a large room in which were eight foot square black and white photographs of women's heads. In the corner was a beautiful woman talking on the phone in a German accent. I said, ‘I would like to show the director my portfolio’. She said, ‘I'm sorry sir, this isn't a gallery, it's a hair salon.’ Later that same day I did acquire gallery representation. Four years later I had my first one man show which was sold out, and reviewed in the New York Times. Most of those paintings back then were of the architecture of Pittsfield, MA. New Yorkers bought them all up. Now New Yorkers are buying up the city of Pittsfield itself, go figure. Hilton Kramer, in his review of my work said, "If there is an element of nostalgia in these works it is not too bothersome..." Of these current works I would say, if there is an element of nostalgia in them, it is entirely the point. I learned to love New York, and I realized that it is possible to love a place in the same way that one might love a woman, in the same way, and with the same consequences.” “There are modes of Realism in which the depiction of concrete detail is so concentrated–and so obsessive–that the visual result bears a distinct esthetic kinship to pictorial abstraction. Richard Britell’s paintings are a particularly vivid example of this phenomenon. Mr. Britell’s subject matter is drawn from the world of pre-modernist architecture. What he focuses on are brick facades, stonework structures and the elegant decorative embellishments that were once a standard feature of the gothic revival, neo-classical and other historicist styles of American urban architecture. These he depicts with a great deal of pictorial force. Only rarely, however, does the imagery in Mr. Britell’s paintings offer us much in the way of social documentary–or social commentary. (The broken window that we glimpse in a brick facade in the painting called ”Bank Row, Syracuse,” for example, is unusual.) It is the design element in this architecture that interests him–the density and regularity of its formal detail, say, or the handling of light and shadow in conception of a complex outdoor structure. Often the facade of a building is observed in the kind of close-up view that becomes, in effect, the equivalent of a geometrical abstract painting. He is particularly good at painting brickwork, stone window frames and decorated entrances. He has a very analytical eye, and he commands an impressive technique. If there is also an element of nostalgia in these paintings, it isn’t particularly bothersome. After all, we all have ample reason to cherish this architecture today, and Mr. Britell’s homage to it proves wholly equal to its quality.” -Hilton Kramer New York Times Colors: beige, grey, rust Notes: architecture, New York City

Creator:
Richard Britell
Creation Year:
2014
Dimensions:
Height: 24 in (60.96 cm)Width: 40 in (101.6 cm)
Medium:
Cotton Canvas,Oil
Movement & Style:
Contemporary
Period:
21st Century
Condition:
Gallery Location:
GT. BARRINGTON, MA
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU51131635113

More Ways To Browse

Edel Lugones

Elena Narkevich On Sale

Irina Rybakova On Sale

John Kilduff Hollyhocks

John Rathbone

Lazarus Massavo

M Brasilia

View All Popular Paintings Searches

88 Second Ave

View Similar Items

Richard Britell
88 Second Ave
2014

About the Item

2010s Contemporary Figurative Paintings

Luis Alexander Rodríguez (Ie-Xiua)
Presence - portrait of a moment - oil painting on blue background, 2024

2010s Contemporary Animal Paintings

Jenny Toth
Dreams of Red Macaw, bright, colorful abstract work with bird, 2023

2010s Contemporary Figurative Paintings

Ferenc Erdok
Hotelscene with Ghost- 21st Century Contemporary Painting of a game with nude , 2023

2010s Contemporary Figurative Paintings

Ramonn Vieitez de Lima
Eden, Hands Painting, 2017

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Abstract Paintings

Erin Parish
The Dreamers of the Dreams / acrylic and resin on canvas - blue triptych, 2013

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Animal Paintings

Elaine Badgley Arnoux
The Fox Went Out One Stormy Night - 72 x 66 inches, 2008-2009

Recently Viewed

More Ways To Browse

88 Second Ave

View Similar Items

Richard Britell88 Second Ave2014

About the Item

2010s Contemporary Figurative Paintings

Luis Alexander Rodríguez (Ie-Xiua)Presence - portrait of a moment - oil painting on blue background, 2024

2010s Contemporary Animal Paintings

Jenny TothDreams of Red Macaw, bright, colorful abstract work with bird, 2023

2010s Contemporary Figurative Paintings

Ferenc ErdokHotelscene with Ghost- 21st Century Contemporary Painting of a game with nude , 2023

2010s Contemporary Figurative Paintings

Ramonn Vieitez de LimaEden, Hands Painting, 2017

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Abstract Paintings

Erin ParishThe Dreamers of the Dreams / acrylic and resin on canvas - blue triptych, 2013

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Animal Paintings

Elaine Badgley ArnouxThe Fox Went Out One Stormy Night - 72 x 66 inches, 2008-2009

Recently Viewed

More Ways To Browse

Richard Britell
88 Second Ave
2014

Luis Alexander Rodríguez (Ie-Xiua)
Presence - portrait of a moment - oil painting on blue background, 2024

Jenny Toth
Dreams of Red Macaw, bright, colorful abstract work with bird, 2023

Ferenc Erdok
Hotelscene with Ghost- 21st Century Contemporary Painting of a game with nude , 2023

Ramonn Vieitez de Lima
Eden, Hands Painting, 2017

Erin Parish
The Dreamers of the Dreams / acrylic and resin on canvas - blue triptych, 2013

Elaine Badgley Arnoux
The Fox Went Out One Stormy Night - 72 x 66 inches, 2008-2009