Justin Richel
Born 1979, New Brunswick, New Jersey, lives and works in Rangeley, Maine. Richel received his BFA from the Maine College of Art, in Portland, ME (2002) and studied the technique of Icon painting at the Franciscan Monastery, Kennebunk, ME (2004). Behind the confectionary palette of Richel’s portraits of colonial looking fellows, seductive pastries and Victorian furnishings are narratives of control and chaos replete with incisive social commentary. The artist wields a sinister brand of humor that, drenched in the levity of pastels, subversively taunts the culture of consumption. His work, which largely consists of gouache on paper, ranges in scale, from small intimate paintings to sprawling wall works. Richel has exhibited his work throughout the U.S. and Europe.
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