Richard
Herman
Richard Herman
was born in London,
England in 1965, and immigrated to Canada in 1967 . His childhood was spent in
rural Ontario before moving to Toronto in his early teens. He left home and
school at the age of 16 following the death of his father, and at this point
began to paint with serious intention, resolving to make art his life's work.
Without formal training,
learning the craft of oils was a process of trial and error. This was grounded
in a strong identification with European art history. These early efforts were
influenced in both technique and style by the crisp form and transparent colour
of early Flemish and German painters.
In his late twenties Richard underwent a change in perspective that brought into
focus the transience and uncertainty of life. Seeking to depict a world that
arises and passes away he began experimenting with a wet-on-wet technique that
drew inspiration from the Chinese and Japanese traditions of painting and
calligraphy. The work that came out of this approach shows a flowing environment
of clouds, geology and watercourses.
His more recent work brings
together the lessons of these two periods into what has become his established
landscape style. He is now experimenting with using these landscape motifs
as settings for symbolic narrative.