Chimento Contemporary is pleased to announce View From The Cheap Seats, an exhibition of new works by San Francisco-based artist, Richard Hoblock. Curated by Kim Light, this exhibition is Hoblock’s first at Chimento Contemporary Los Angeles.

In his paintings, Richard Hoblock extends the practice of traditional abstraction beyond the basic tenets of gesture, color, and form, by an excavation of the interstitial spaces. Profuse with layer upon layer of sumptuous paint, and infused with various oils to create a sensual undulation of luster, each painting appears to breathe, giving life with the ever-changing light. Characterized by a precise dynamism and deliberate gesture, while structured with formal strength, Hoblock’s paintings are experiential. Bold artistic signatures complement deeply complex surfaces, while the sophistication of his gestures signify a mode of communication that is wordless and beyond materiality. Transcending both language and time to evoke a myriad of emotional states, his paintings reveal a feeling of unrealized paintings of the past, as well as portending life’s inevitable joy and pain.

Hoblock’s autographic markings stir up and suspend places in our imagination we choose to deny or for which we desperately yearn. Radiant biomorphic shapes create private sensual moments, as if the immediacy of flesh is carved out with visceral glee. On viewing these works, this liminal space places us between desire and destruction. We bask in the portal of transcendence and possibilities — “ecstasy before the void is always fleeting.” (Bataille) Richard Hoblock was born in New York, lives and works in San Francisco. He graduated from University of New Hampshire, B.A.; graduated from University of California, Los Angeles, M.F.A.. Solo exhibitions include; Anthony Meier Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA; Kim Light/Lightbox Los Angeles, CA; The Los Angeles Billboard Project, Los Angeles, CA, and Chimento Contemporary, Los Angeles, CA.

Recent group exhibitions include; Color, Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition, Brooklyn, NY; Opposing the Binary, Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, 2013; Mark Hagen, Richard Hoblock, Lesley Vance, Anthony Meier Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA, 2012; OUT OF THE BLUE, Bortolami Gallery, New York, NY, 2012; Wall-to-Wall, Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, 2010; Seasonal Pictures, Five Abstract Painters, ACME Gallery, Los Angeles, CA , 2009; Just What Are They Saying?, Jonathan Ferrara Gallery, New Orleans, LA, 2009; Neointegrity, Derek Eller Gallery, New York, NY, 2007; How Many People Can You Know When You Walk Into A Room: new work by Richard Hoblock and Tom Kovachevich, Kim Light/LightBox, Los Angeles, CA, 2006; LACE, Los Angeles, CA, 2006; and Light Opts, Kim Light/LightBox, Los Angeles, CA, 2005.