About

Biography

Richelle Rich (b. 1967, London) is a British-Swiss multidisciplinary artist based, since 2014, in Los Angeles and Joshua Tree. She received her MA from the Royal College of Art in 1997 and her BA from Central St Martins School of Art in 1995. Her work has been widely exhibited nationally and internationally, including shows at Hirschl Contemporary (London), Michael West Gallery (Isle of Wight), Standpoint Gallery (London), NCK Gdansk (Warsaw), and Soft Core LA (Los Angeles) among many others. She is the winner of the Augustus Martin Prize, Falkiner Fine Paper Award, and was shortlisted for FACK Arts Prize. Rich and her work has been featured in Art Forum, Artnet, Art Review, The Guardian, The Financial Times, The Times (London), The Independent, Contemporary Magazine, Time Out (London), Harpers, and Queen.

Artist’s Statement 

These objects, many of them custom made, became material stand-ins for my every day experience. I take elements of my own personal journey, the past, present and future, some of what I am living through, some of what I am consuming, reading or learning, and explore their parallel cultural or meta narratives. Through them I document the social, political and historical events I witness. Deadly poisonous flowers, glass from a shipwreck, custom made needles, ephemera and detritus, make these interwoven narratives tangible.  

They are secrets hidden in plain sight.

I am a hoarder. I collect objects, ephemera, and detritus, traces of life, and examine them through the camera to uncover the stories I am searching for. The discarded becomes sacred through the ritual of my obsessive documentation.

I am interested in the intersection of trauma and transcendence and the ways in which objects are magically contaminated by our stories, emotions and memories. I aim to create images that give form to the stories we can’t find the words for. I make the unspeakable tangible.

Whether it's working in the still life tradition evocative of the Dutch masters or using a macro lens with an infinitesimally shallow depth of field, my works, while autobiographical, are encoded with cultural, political, and historical subtext.

CV
Richelle Rich (b. 1967, London)

Education 
1997 MA Fine Art Royal College of Art London
1995 BA Fine Art Central St Martins School of Art, London

Selected Solo Exhibitions
2023 
Small Creatures Such As We, Gallery 169, Santa Monica, California
Here’s One I Made Earlier, Cartel, New York City
2003 
Richelle Rich, Michael West Gallery, Newport, Isle of Wight, United Kingdom
2002 
If I Can Dream, Hirschl Contemporary Art, London
2001 
Richelle Rich, Standpoint Gallery, London

Selected Group Exhibitions
2024

Bombay Beach Biennale, Salton Sea, California

Fuerte, curated by Betty Brown. The Makery, Los Angeles

2022 
Billboard in Holland Park, part of Procreate Project Archive, London
2020 
11-11, Soft Core LA, Los Angeles
2019 
Get A Loom, Soft Core LA, Los Angeles
2018 
Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy, London
2017 
Bombay Beach Biennale, Salton Sea, California
2013 
Chelsea Fringe @ GWS, Great Western Studios, London
2012 
CRASH, Charlie Dutton Gallery, London 
2002 
Paupers Publications, Standpoint Gallery, London
2001 
Figure 8, Pump House Gallery, London 
Life—A User’s Manual, The National Institute of Cultural Heritage, Warsaw, Poland
1999 
WIP, curated by Samia Ashraf, Lana House, London
1998 
Good Art, Corbett Place, London
Comic—Contemporary Comic Narrative Art, Oldham Art Gallery, Oldham, United Kingdom
1997 
Almost Edible, Bath Contemporary Art Gallery, Bath, United Kingdom
Art, Hause, London 
1996 
The Great Escape, curated by Samia Ashraf, Lana House, London
1995 
Bad Art, curated by Martin Maloney, Lost in Space, London

Awards / Residency
2023
Quinn Emmanuel Los Angeles Artist-in-Residence (shortlisted)
2017
Yeah Field Trip / Huawei Mate Photography Prize
2013
FACK Prize (shortlisted)
1997
Augustus Martin Prize
1995
Falkiner Fine Paper Award

Press / Bibliography
Hudson, Suzanne. Richelle Rich Review. Art Forum January 1, 2024

”Meet Richelle Rich” Shoutout LA, November 13, 2023
Nys Dambrot, Shana. “Time Flies,” LA Weekly, September 22, 2023
Thibault, Sarah. “Free Agent.” Art Date, September 18th 2023
“Friday Focus”, Parapluie Art, July 14, 2023
“Artist Of The Week,” I Like Your Work Podcast, June 28, 2023
”This Artist Was Set to Show With Lisa Schiff Before a Lawsuit Shuttered the Gallery. Now, She’s Staging the Exhibition on Her Own,” Artnet.com, May 27, 2023
Bernard, Kate. “Love Me true,” Tatler, July 2002
Gascoigne, Laura. “Love Me Tender” What’s On London, July 17, 2002
”In depth art News,” Absolute arts.com, July 3, 2002
”Alternative Investments,” The Observer, June 30, 2002
Brown, Heath. “The King and I,” The Times Magazine, June 29, 2002
“The Loop: Your Love Is King,” The FT Magazine, June 29, 2002
“SEE IT ‘The King Lives’,” ES Magazine. June 21, 2002
Guner, Fisun. “Love Letters In The Sand,” Metro (London), June 5, 2002
Sumpter, Helen. “Opening This Week,” Hot Tickets London, June 4, 2002
”Radar / Visual Arts: Richelle Rich, ‘If I can Dream’’,” Flux, June 2002
Neish, Andrew. “True Romance, Return to Gender,” Fabric Magazine, June 2002
McClaren, Duncan. ”Gals and Dolls,” Contemporary Magazine, November 2001
Goff, David. “Doll Parts,” iD magazine, March 2001
”Upfront: ‘Hello Dolly’ #D Peep show art,” Time Out London, January 18, 2001
”Front Runners: Rich Tease,” What’s On London, January 17, 2001
McClaren, Duncan. “Pick of the Galleries: Fantasy Holidays with my blow up doll,” The Independent on Sunday, January 11, 2001
”Mummy why has that plastic lady got her mouth open?” Sleazenation, January 2001
“Thats Rich,” Talent Scout, The Independent on Sunday, December 24, 2000 
Rich, Richelle. “An Artist Loose in the World,” Art Review Magazine, August 2000
Brown, Hero. “The Chosen Few: Sex, Goodbyes and video tape’,”The Independent on Sunday, June 28, 1998