Ricardo Gonzalez “Writing is Painting”
I visited “Writing is Painting,” the solo show of Mexico-born, New York-based graphic designer Ricardo Gonzalez. The venue is hpgrp GALLERY TOKYO in Omotesando.
Ricardo Gonzalez is a street-scene artist who specializes in lettering, typography, calligraphy, and typeface design. He has taken on many corporate commissions for the likes of Apple and Nike, and is a highly popular artist.
The works are drawn with markers rather than brushes, in trajectories that recall a single continuous stroke. He apparently draws from bottom to top, and for the gradient works he constantly changes color as he goes, adjusting on the fly.
Ricardo Gonzalez uses the phrase “It’s a living” as his signature, and it is also his Instagram handle. As the exhibition title “Writing is Painting” suggests, he draws words as images.
At first glance the works read as symbol-like writing, but look closely and English sentences appear.
The lines traced by the marker and the trails of dripping ink are cool.
He uses markers by a maker called Krink.
Japan-Exclusive Works
Silkscreen prints exclusive to Japan were on sale. The price? Just 10,000 yen each! Limited to 30 editions.
There have been many inquiries from overseas as well, but this was a project that could only be realized in Japan.
I visited around the middle of the run, and the original works had already sold out.
Roughly half of the silkscreen inventory still remained.
Both the originals and the silkscreens will surely become very valuable pieces to own.
