“a thing of this world” || Ryder Richards || Ryder Richards

a thing of this world

Martha Fenestermaker Memorial Visual Arts Gallery, Laredo Community College
Laredo, Texas
January 21- February 25, 2016

a thing of this world, Ryder Richards’ installation has evolved from researching civil power conflicts, primarily focusing on the relationship between police and citizens. Influenced by power/knowledge theory, the work uses the aesthetics of conflict while considering academic knowledge as a distancing mechanism from reality. The artist’s stark, detailed drawings, which depict a range of imagery from shielded police, plumes of smoke, to excerpts from theoretical text, frames a sense of civil escalation among police/citizen relations. Relative to the works on paper, Richards’ sculptural objects and paintings allude to conflations in the symbolic means-to power in the form of a Kevlar® hoodie, DIY riot shields, and failed monuments.

atotw- installation

atotw – shield: charged, burn, defense

atotw – shield: charged and burn

shield: defense

atotw – utility, charged, burn

atotw – shield: utility

atotw – intractable conflict, predation 3

atotw – shield: charged

atotw – shield: predation 2

atotw – shield: academic & defensive force II

atotw – shield: defensive force & rebuttal

atotw – shield: masks (DIYTrying)

atotw – shield: monument

Richards lectured at the opening reception on his research into power, force, and the aesthetic manifestation of power and fear.

DIY Trying: Gasmasks

In conjunction with the exhibition Richards conducted a workshop, “DIY Trying: Gasmasks,” in which he taught 20 students how to create their own riot gasmasks from soda bottles and build filters with activated charcoal and soda lime.