Richard Newton:
CLASS OF 1966
Santa Fe High SchoolClass of 1966
Santa fe springs, CA
Richard's Story
You may see my videos on Vimeo at Richard Newton artist.
In 1972, Richard Newton began working with cans, glass bottles, bread, produce and other cast-offs. Partly from a need to survive and partly from a sense of fascination for the abundance of America, his practice of dumpster diving and recycling became a means to create environmental works of art. Beggar’s Banquet, 1972, created from one night’s bounty of discarded fruits and vegetables installed as 2 lavish pyramids was included in the Getty’s “Pacific Standard Time: Los Angeles Art, 1945 - 1980.”
In the summer of 2012, Newton travelled to Tromsø, Norway to participate in the 13th International Ibsen Conference. The conference normally reserved for scholars, invited 4 artists. One each, from Asia, Africa, Europe and Richard Newton from USA. He spoke about his production, The Former Miss Barstow with every Tom, Dick, and Harry in a doll’s house, 1987, and discussed the process of adapting Ibsen to a specific cultural and societal situation.
Newton has shown artworks, artists’ books, films & videos and presented live performances and site-specific installations throughout the world. His one-of-a-kind books were shown at DOCUMENTA VI, 1977, in Kassel, Germany. He will exhibit photographs based on his In The Privacy of Your Own Home, 1976, at the European Month of Photography, 2018, Berlin, Germany.
For the PUBLIC SPIRIT FESTIVAL, 1980, the audience found Newton performing behind a chained door in a downtown derelict hotel. Titled, Get Under The Table, Don’t Look at the Windows, this performance dealt with alcoholism, family relationships, the nature of infinity and the threat of nuclear destruction. In another performance, the audience found The Man Who Could Eat Glass locked in his hotel room, ruminating on what it means to be American and to be held hostage. The meaning of “hostage” was expanded to include being held by a foreign government, being held with criminal intent, being held by the mental illness of one’s own mind, and bein...Expand for more
g held under the addiction to alcohol.
In 1982, Paul McCarthy and Richard Newton exhibited together at Exile Gallery on the edge of Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles. Newton built a sanctuary, The Grotto. The walls, ceiling, and floors were made entirely of recycled beer cans. Beer seeped down the walls and dripped from the ceiling into a well built to hold the holy beer. The Grotto was open to all and welcomed all to refresh themselves. The materials used to construct The Grotto were eventually recycled.
La Gruta Azul (the blue grotto) installed at Jancar Gallery in 2013, was constructed as a sanctuary for all to take a moment to remember those who have passed from alcohol and drug related deaths. Christopher Knight of the Los Angeles Times wrote “Castoffs come in many forms, whether material or spiritual. ‘La Gruta Azul’ retrieves them in a quiet poignant embrace.”
Richard Newton’s early art films and videos have shown at museums, galleries, ciné clubs, festivals, and on television. Flying with the Angels, directed and produced with Nancye Ferguson, won many awards and screened at festivals and independent venues around the world, including the Pan African Film Festival, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Another one of Newton’s short films, Swift Nudes, won first prize at Certamen Internacional de Cine Ciutat D’Igualada, Barcelona, Spain.
His first feature film, small white house won the award for Best First Feature and was runner-up as best film in the festival at the 19th Festival Internacional de Cinema, Figueira da Foz, Portugal. small white house also won at the ARCO ‘91, 1st Exhibition of Experimental Cinema, Madrid, Spain.
Many of Newton’s films were shown at various venues during The Getty’s Pacific Standard Time, including the Los Angeles Filmforum’s Alternative Projections: Experimental Film in Los Angeles 1945-1980.
His groundbreaking fashion films, Traction Avenue and Lamy Men, both 1987, were shown at the 10th A Shaded View of Fashion film festival, 2018, in Paris, France.
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