Operating Room, pencil, oil and spray enamel on string, fabric and canvas
-Richard, we'd love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today, both personally and as an artist.
Like so many artists, I drew and doodled incessantly as a kid. Fairly recently, I discovered a box of art from my childhood which my mother had saved. In looking through it, I was surprised to discover that many of my projects involved cutting, taping, collaging, fold-outs, and other 3D elements. Somehow, I had it in my head that this interest of mine was an activity I acquired later on, but apparently it was there all along.
The house I grew up in had a lot of art on the walls, including oils by my great-aunt who was a very accomplished painter. So, the idea that someone could be an artist was not a completely foreign idea to me. College was an expectation in my family, and fine art is what I chose to study. I started in painting, but my interest soon switched to sculpture. I learned woodworking, welding, moldmaking and casting. I began combining different materials into large outdoor sculptures. Eventually though, I found my way back to painting and now it often incorporates three dimensional elements.
I've heard people say that artists shouldn't look at other art too much, but that idea just feels wrong to me. Looking at art is one of my great joys. Ancient art, contemporary art—I find nearly all forms of visual expression fascinating. It seems perfectly natural to me to be immersed in the gigantic mosaic of the history of art, while still maintaining an understanding of what it is I want to accomplish and to feel that I am also becoming a part of that history.
Non Compos Mentis, oil and mixed media on glass and wood
-How important is the tactile relationship you have with your materials? Does your hands-on connection affect the direction or emotional impact of your work?
One of the major characteristics of sculpture is its corporeality. Usually it is what it is, in a very specific sense. Tap on a bronze and the sound will remind you exactly how solid and heavy that object is. Painting more often operates in a different way. Placed on a wall, it can create a magic space that will invite the viewer in to wander.
I love the illusory qualities of painting, but I am also drawn to texture and the “making” of a painting, so while working on an image, I will frequently incorporate vestiges of the real world. For example, Non Compos Mentis utilizes paint, but also glass, tar paper and photographic elements. It asks to be examined up close for a fuller understanding of its construction and its meaning. There is a back and forth between the real and the imaginary.
Googly #5, charcoal, acrylic and shellac on canvas
-There's such a sense of movement in the way you layer texture, color, and gesture. Like the work is alive! Do you see your process as rhythmic or more improvisational?
I transition between two modes while I am working. There is the more rational level which might have to do with the logic of an image, or the compositional decisions I am making. But very often a piece can start to die on the operating table with too much formal weight. Keeping a work alive often requires a defibrillator of improvisation or irrational activity. As you point out, it is often the texture of materials, a jarring color, or an erratic gesture that can bring life to the picture. It is a process that I try not to analyze too much, but I realize that over the years it has become an integral part of my nature.
Learning Curve, pencil, oil, and spray enamel on printed fabric over panel
-Your collection feels timeless but also rooted in today's cultural landscape. What do you want it to say about the world we're living in, and what do you hope future viewers will take from it?
I am a product of the modern world and it seems only natural to be responding to things that are happening in the moment. But as a person who is also interested in the past, it's hard to not come to the realization that all of the subjects that artists consider, have been going on since the beginning of our species in one form or another.
As an American, it feels important to acknowledge that we exist on land that was stolen from indigenous people and built in large part by people who were abducted from another continent. Women and minorities are largely subject to unfair or downright abusive treatment. To deny that reality and to support those who would perpetuate those injustices is unconscionable. My work often addresses these issues directly or obliquely, depending on what seems most appropriate for a particular piece.
With this more abstract selection of work, I have a lot of leeway to address multiple ideas. Sometimes they are simply an excuse for cathartic foolishness.
Big Baby, oil and mixed media
-What's the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
I am still surprised when someone tells me that they had no idea about the dimensionality of my work from looking at online images. So my best advice is to find one of my shows and look at the work firsthand.
I am grateful that lots of people have collected my work and if someone is interested in a studio visit, they can email me at chalkboardstudio@gmail.com
I'm on FB, Bluesky, and my Instagram handle is chalkboardstudio
My website is richardneal.net
Thanks for including me in your series of interviews!
Statement
People, ideas, structures and systems are in a never-ending condition of pulling together and breaking apart. I am fascinated by this continual state of flux.
Reckless abandon can be equally valuable to careful attention. I need both approaches while making my art.
Reality and illusion are frequently not as contradictory as I expect them to be.
Histories and futures coexist in the mind. I look for sparks at the spaces in between.
Last Chance, oil and mixed media
Bio
Lemon Crush, oil on canvas
Richard Neal was born in Washington, DC and grew up in Maryland. He earned a Master's degree at the Cranbrook Academy of Art and works at Chalkboard Studio in Barnstable Village on Cape Cod. His work was featured in a three-city tour of Cuba in 2020, and in a 2024 one-person exhibit at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum. In 2026, he will be one of fifteen artists commissioned to participate in an outdoor sculpture exhibit at the Duxbury Art Complex, titled Under Construction: America at 250.
Richard is the inaugural recipient of the Arts Foundation of Cape Cod Fellowship. The writer, André van der Wende has observed that “Neal is a master at creating distressed surfaces full of invention and the unexpected, tough and confrontational in their manufacture and effect.”