Three by Three: Guest Artists in Focus
QUESTION 2. You’ve said your color fields can both soothe and energize. When beginning a new canvas, what inner state or emotional temperature are you trying to set through your initial palette?
ANSWER 2. When I begin a canvas, the palette is my first act of setting the inner temperature. Color is emotional time—it invites a state of mind before a single mark is made. Often I’m seeking a balance: a tension between quiet and intensity, serenity and aliveness. Sometimes it’s cool, meditative, almost contemplative; other times warm, tactile, and immediate. The colors are chosen not to illustrate a mood, but to inhabit it—to hold a space that feels both intimate and expansive. Each field becomes a landscape of feeling, a backdrop for the body and the eye to move within, and to return to.
Willy Bo Richardson
Abstract Painter, working primarily with vertical strokes
BIO: Born and raised in Santa Fe, NM. I studied painting at UT Austin and later Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, where I earned my MFA in 2000. I spent ten years immersed in the New York art world—working as a painting tech at Cooper Union and exhibiting widely—before returning home to Santa Fe, where the landscape and atmosphere shapes my work. My work has been featured on the PBS arts series ¡COLORES!, and is included in the Albuquerque Museum’s public collection. I’ve been a Tamarind Institute artist-in-residence and a SITE Santa Fe SPREAD finalist. Today I’m represented by Nüart Gallery in Santa Fe and Santa Monica, Richard Levy Gallery in Albuquerque, ClampArt in New York City, and Skot Foreman Fine Art in San Miguel de Allende Mexico.
LINK WillyBoRichardson.com
QUESTION 3. Your recent use of spray-gun grounds adds atmospheric depth beneath the brushwork. What new perceptual or spatial possibilities has this technique opened for you?
ANSWER 3. Introducing spray-gun passages beneath the brushwork has opened entirely new spatial possibilities. The spray creates a kind of atmospheric undercurrent: soft edges, depth, and subtle blend rolls that the brush cannot produce. It allows the subsequent brushstrokes to engage with an ambient space. This added layer of perception lets me explore light and density in a more tactile way, encouraging the viewer to move visually through the painting rather than just across it. The ground becomes an active resonance field that heightens both color and gestures.
QUESTION 1. Your vertical strokes often feel like both structure and sensation. How does this “emotional geometry” guide your decisions about rhythm, spacing, and the tempo of the painting?
ANSWER 1. For over two decades, I have committed to a path defined by diligence, curiosity, and a willingness to challenge conventional expectations. The vertical strokes and structured compositions in my work are not rigid prescriptions—they are the framework through which freedom, presence, and discovery emerge. My practice honors the lineage of painting while questioning the role of novelty in contemporary culture. Each piece reflects sustained inquiry: the rigorous pursuit of color, rhythm, and perception, and the courage to remain present, attentive, and honest with both the medium and myself.
"Navigation 4"
oil on canvas 53 x 57 in
"Carrying and Soaring 4"
acrylic and oil on wood panel 24 x 36 in
"Clockwork for Oracles 2"
oil on canvas 29 x 62 in (diptych)
All copyright and reproduction rights are reserved by Willy Bo Richardson.
Artwork may not be reproduced in any form without the artist's express written permission.
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