Kelly Richardson (born 1972) is a Canadian artist working with digital technologies to create hyper-real landscapes. She is currently a professor at the Department of Visual Arts of the

University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay, British Columbia, Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. Established in 1903 as Victoria College, British Columbia, Victoria Col ...

Early life and education

Richardson was born August 2, 1972, in

Burlington, Ontario Burlington, officially the City of Burlington, is a city and List of municipalities in Ontario#Lower-tier municipalities, lower-tier municipality in Regional Municipality of Halton, Halton Region at the west end of Lake Ontario in Ontario, Can ...

, Canada. From 1994 to 1997, she studied at the

Ontario College of Art & Design Ontario College of Art & Design University, commonly known as OCAD University or OCAD U, is a public university, public art school, art university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its main campus is located within Toronto's Grange Park (neighbourh ...

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, Ontario. In 2002, she relocated to Halifax, Nova Scotia for her Master of Fine Arts in Media Studies at the

Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University NSCAD University, also known as the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (NSCAD), is a public art university in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The university is a co-educational institution that offers bachelor's and master's degrees. The unive ...

. In 2003, she moved to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

taking up residence in the northeast where she also completed her master's degree at

Newcastle University Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is a red brick university and a mem ...

with distinction.

Career

Richardson works with video and digital photography to create hyper-real landscapes. Her work "adopts the use of cinematic language to investigate notions of constructed environments and the blurring of the real versus the unreal. She creates contemplative spaces which offer visual metaphors for the sensations associated with the hugely complicated world we have created for ourselves, magnificent and equally dreadful." As David Jager noted in ''

Canadian Art Canadian art refers to the visual arts, visual (including painting, photography, and printmaking) as well as plastic arts (such as sculpture) originating from the geographical area of contemporary Canada. Art in Canada is marked by thousands of ...

'',

Richardson deploys a formidable range of techniques and a broad palette of approaches in her creation of a new aesthetic, one that elicits a euphoric suspension of disbelief, allowing viewers to delve into the increasingly ambiguous and complex juncture between the real and the represented. She has transformed video, once a self-consciously minimal, anti-cinematic, bare-bones practice, into something much richer, and much stranger.

In 2012, a 15-year retrospective exhibition of her work entitled ''Legion'' was organised by and premiered at the

Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art (NGCA) is a contemporary art gallery which is based in Sunderland, England. The gallery focuses on producing exhibitions of new work by emerging and established regional, national and international artists ...

in England. The retrospective then toured to the

Grundy Art Gallery The Grundy is an art gallery located in Blackpool, Lancashire, England. Its eclectic programme consists of regional historic to recent contemporary art exhibitions. Opened in 1911, it is owned and operated by Blackpool Council. It is a Grade II ...

(UK), Towner (UK), and

Albright-Knox Art Gallery The Buffalo AKG Art Museum, formerly known as the Albright–Knox Art Gallery, is an art museum located adjacent to Delaware Park, Buffalo, New York, United States. The museum shows modern art and contemporary art. It is directly opposite Buff ...

(USA). In 2017, she joined the Department of Visual Arts of the

as a professor. Prior to this, she had worked as a Lecturer in Fine Art at

. In 2023, three of Richardson's pieces – ''Origin Stories'', ''Origin Stories (AR)'', and ''Halo'' – were featured in the music video for the

Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. It was formed in Los Angeles in 1981 by vocalist and guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...

song "

72 Seasons ''72 Seasons'' is the eleventh studio album by American heavy metal band Metallica, released on April 14, 2023, by their own record label Blackened Recordings. ''72 Seasons'' was produced by Greg Fidelman, who produced the band's previous st ...

Biography

Selected exhibitions

* Attenborough Arts Centre, "Mariner 9", Leicester, UK (2020) *

Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (SMoCA) in the state of Arizona is a museum in the Old Town district of downtown Scottsdale, Arizona. The museum is dedicated to contemporary art, design, and architecture. The Museum has five galleries t ...

, "Tales on the Horizon", Scottsdale, Arizona, USA (2015) *

Natural History Museum, Vienna The Natural History Museum Vienna () is a large natural history museum located in Vienna, Austria. The NHM Vienna is one of the largest museums and non-university research institutions in Austria and an important center of excellence for all matt ...

, "Mariner 9", Vienna, Austria (2014) *

, "Kelly Richardson: Legion" (retrospective), Eastbourne, UK (2013) *

Towner Art Gallery Towner Eastbourne (formerly Towner Art Gallery) is an art gallery located in Eastbourne, East Sussex, on the south coast of England. The gallery hosts one of the most significant public art collections in the Southern England, South of England ...

, "Legion" (retrospective), Eastbourne, UK (2013) *

, "Legion" (retrospective), Sunderland, UK (2012) * Le Fresnoy, "Visions Fugitives", Tourcoing, France (2012) * Albright-Knox Art Gallery, "Videosphere: A New Generation", Buffalo, New York (2011) *

Artpace Artpace (also known as Artpace San Antonio) is a non-profit contemporary art foundation located in downtown San Antonio, Texas that is free and open to the public. Founded by artist, collector, and philanthropist Linda Pace, Artpace opened its d ...

, "Leviathan", San Antonio, Texas (2011) *

Art Gallery of Ontario The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO; ) is an art museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Located on Dundas Street, Dundas Street West in the Grange Park (neighbourhood), Grange Park neighbourhood of downtown Toronto, the museum complex takes up of phys ...

, "Sculpture as Time: Major works. New Acquisitions.", Toronto, Ontario, Canada (2010) *

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

, ''New Frontier on Main'', Park City, Utah, USA (2009) * Beijing 798 Biennale, ''Constellations: The Man Who Fell to Earth'', Beijing, China (2009) *

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is an art museum beside the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. The museum was initially endowed during the 1960s with the permanent art collection of Joseph H. Hirshhorn. It was designed ...

, ''The Cinema Effect: Illusion, Reality, and the Moving Image – Part 1: Dreams'', Washington, D.C., USA (2008) *

Busan Biennale The Busan Biennale is a biannual international contemporary art show held in Busan Busan (), officially Busan Metropolitan City, is South Korea's second list of cities in South Korea by population, most populous city after Seoul, with a popu ...

, ''Expenditure'', Busan, South Korea (2008) *

Hallwalls Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center (aka Hallwalls) is a non-profit art organization located in Buffalo, New York. Since 1974, Hallwalls has shown and shows the work of contemporary artists of diverse backgrounds who work in film, video, literatu ...

, ''The Edge of Everything'', Buffalo, New York, USA (2008) * Le Mois de la Photo à Montréal, ''Exiles of the Shattered Star'', Montreal, Quebec, Canada (2007) *

Gwangju Biennale The Gwangju Biennale is a contemporary art biennale founded in September 1995 in Gwangju, South Jeolla province, South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half ...

, ''A Grain of Dust A Drop of Water'', Busan, South Korea (2004)

Public collections

* Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York, USA *

Art Gallery of Nova Scotia The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia (AGNS) is a public provincial museums of Canada, provincial art museum based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The art museum's primary building complex is located in downtown Halifax and takes up ...

, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada * Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario, Canada * Arts Council Collection, England * Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C., USA *

Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal The Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal (, MACM) is a contemporary art museum in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located on the Place des festivals in the Quartier des spectacles and is part of the Place des Arts complex. Founded in 1964, it ...

, Montreal, Quebec, Canada *

National Gallery of Canada The National Gallery of Canada (), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's National museums of Canada, national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the List of large ...

, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada * Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, USA * The Collection: Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art, UK * Towner Art Gallery, Eastbourne, UK

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Richardson, Kelly 1972 births Living people Artists from Ontario Canadian contemporary artists Canadian video artists Canadian women video artists Canadian photographers NSCAD University alumni OCAD University alumni Alumni of Newcastle University Academic staff of the University of Victoria Academics of Newcastle University People from Burlington, Ontario