Richard Barone

I was a great artist in the fifth grade, at least that’s what my fellow classmates and art teacher thought. My parents thought differently, however, and transferred me to a Catholic school, and that was the end of my art career. By the time I got to college, I was fully convinced that the intellectual search for truth was far superior to the sensuous. I earned a Bachelor of Arts degree and hadn’t taken one course in art. In a sense, I was on the same course as Robert Motherwell (philosopher to artist), but for me the end came in the jungles of Vietnam. Philosophy and everything that I had learned—all the teachers, priests, and professors—had abandoned me. Except art, which was always there waiting to be explored. So, now, I’m starting over, painting with abandon, without an exploitable style, and with the freedom of a ten-year-old.