RICHARD DEUTSCH’S sculpture is often shaped by a visual play with man-made, engineered objects from architecture and industry. Fragments -- imbued with their own myth and imaginings -- are found or fabricated, reworked, and composed to form both autonomous sculptures and environments. Form, movement, the organization of space, and human interaction are central to the artist’s exploration.

Deutsch’s focus is abstract sculpture for both public and private settings, and he works in a variety of materials such as granite and bronze. Sculptures range in size from small tabletop pieces to larger interior and outdoor installations. Deutsch is often asked to design and create environments of art, which include sculpture and landscape elements. In these instances, the work is very situation and site specific, conceived for a particular architectural and social context.

In an era where so much of the cultural products we consume result from highlevels of production and technological manipulation, Richard Deutsch remains true to art making and the mark of the human hand is evident in all of his artwork.

Biography

Born
1953 Los Angeles, California

 

Awards/Honors

 

Awards and Honors

2007        Artist of the Year, Santa Cruz County Arts Commission

2007            Building of America Award for Chevy Chase Center Project, Real Estate and Construction Review, eastern Seaboard Edition

1992        American Institute of Architects and Landscape Architects, East Bay,

Orchid Award for Voyage sculpture at City Center, Oakland, California

1987              Visiting Sculptor, American Academy in Rome, Italy

1984             National Endowment for the Arts Visual Artist's Fellowship

 

 

Recent Public Art Projects

 

2008    Mission Bay, San Francisco, California.  Hulls, a sculpture for San Francisco's new Mission Bay development, commemorates a waterfront seeped in maritime history. Commissioned by ML Mission Bay, LLC (Lowe Enterprises Real Estate Group, San Francisco)

Site Address: 500 A. Terry Francois, San Francisco; Building Architect: Chong/Partners Architecture, San Francisco Landscape Architect: EDAW/AECOM, San Francisco

2006            Farr Park and Johnston Park, Chevy Chase City Center, Maryland Art environment centered on water features for two urban plazas.  Collaboration with William K.Hellmuth, AIA, senior principal & Suzette Goldstein, AICP, Hellmuth, Obata+Kassabaum, P.C. and Don Hoover, Principal, Oculus Landscape Architecture.  Art adviser: Francoise Yohalem, Bethesda, Maryland. Commissioned by the Chevy Chase Land Company.

 2005            Memorial Sanctuary, Temple Shir Hadash, Los Gatos, California Memorial sanctuary is a serene focal point for temple Congregants to remember, honor and celebrate family, friends and generations past. 70 vertical granite monoliths, which display prayers and names of loved ones, define an outdoor “room.” A water feature brings life to the Memorial’s interior and granite seating is set throughout. The design was collaboration with artist Larry Kirkland. Commissioned by Congregation Shir Hadash.

 

1999 Oakmead West (campus for Applied Materials), Sunnyvale, California:
Sculptural environment "Etude" -- two 15-foot high granite and bronze sculptures flanks the campus entryway with a stone seating circle of 8 granite benches. "Etude" commemorates the importance of the silicon wafer to the advancement of high technology. Each disc is scribed, carved, and chiseled with drawings providing a glimpse of historical breakthroughs. Integrated with the discs are bronze sculptures of tools such as a compass and micrometer symbolizing precise measurement and calibration.

 

1998 California Science Center, Los Angeles, California:
A fountain "Water Story" for the museum's central plaza which relays the story of how water functions as an ecosystem. Water flows from a 5’h. "mountain" of black granite and through a series of stepped riverbeds on its metaphorical journey to the ocean. Component of larger public art installation created by Larry Kirkland.

 

1995-96 Stanford University: Terman & Thornton Schools of Engineering:
The project "Axis" involved the design and creation of a multi-use environment which further unifies aesthetically the site's two engineering buildings. The environment centers on a dome of basalt which serves as a gathering place in Gibbon's Grove.Integrating the grove with the two Engineering Centers are granite seating areas and a large stone table that are all based on the workings of the wheel - a monumental achievement in the advancement of early engineering technology.

 

1994 Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, California:
In celebration of the Museum's 25th anniversary, commissioned to create "Harvest," a 10'h. bronze sculpture constructed from the castings of California farm and ranch artifacts from the 1930's. In concept, the sculpture interprets and ties together the three main focuses of the museum: the art, ecology and history of California. Permanent collection, Oakland Museum Sculpture Garden.

1989-92 City Center, Oakland, California:
Invited by developers Bramalea Pacific to participate in the City Center design team to integrate art into the 1111 Broadway Building, its plazas, and gardens. The building is a 24-story anchor building in City Center's 12-block redevelopment project. Commissioned to create: "Unity," two 20' high granite sculptural compositions which flank the building's main front Broadway entrance;"Voyage," a 13' H x 32' W x 4' D solid bronze wall relief created from massive ship propellers salvaged from a mothball fleet of Victory ships set in the building's West Plaza Garden. The relief speaks to the importance of the waterfront and port to Oakland. Also commissioned to create nine granite benches, granite footpath and cascading fountain of river rock all set in the West Plaza Garden, City Center, Oakland.

1988-89 Port of Oakland, Oakland, California:
Commissioned by Oakland Portside Associates to create a visually integrated lobby for the Port of Oakland's new headquarters at 530 Water Street , Jack London Square. Artwork included "Motion" (10 ft. x 8 ft. mixed media wall relief of ship gears, propellers and airplane parts that once transported cargo to and from Oakland.

 

Recent Private Commissions

2007         Neiman Marcus, San Francisco, California

                Commissioned sculpture for permanent contemporary art collection.

2005         Neiman Marcus, Beverly Hills, California

                Commissioned sculpture for permanent contemporary art collection.

2002         Dorros Family Residence, Jackson Hole, Wyoming

                Integrated sculptural environment with granite focal sculptures and table.

2000          Wornick Family Vineyard, St. Helena, California

                 Seven Stones - large granite abstract sculpture and environment                                            based on fragmented and re-assembled Italian ruins.

1999           Tillotson Collection, Sandy, Utah

                  Integrated environment of focal sculpture, stone seating, stone                               table.           

1998           Gerald Peters Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico

                   Sculptural seating for new gallery courtyard.

1996            Seiler Collection, Atherton, California

                   Stacked Column - 12'H granite sculpture

1994            Staglin Family Vineyard, Rutherford, California

                   Harvest Table - 18'L granite table for vineyard

1993           George & Dorothy Saxe Collection, Menlo Park, California                               Passage - 8' granite, terrazzo and marble sculpture

1992           Richard & Rhoda Goldman Collection, Atherton, California                                 Harvest Table - 5' h. slate table

1990            Private Collection, Nashville, Tennesse

                   Solstice - an environmental sculpture and seating of slate based on                        the workings of an ancient sundial. Central sculpture: 12' H x 45" W                        x 12" D.

Recent Solo Exhibitions

 

2001. 2005            Gerald Peters Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico

2002            Museum of Art and History, Santa Cruz, California

1997            Foster White Gallery, Seattle, Washington

1993            Oakland Museum Sculpture Court, Oakland, California

1990            Louise Allrich Gallery, San Francisco, California

1989            Louise Allrich Gallery, San Francisco, California

1984            Foster White Gallery, Seattle, Washington

1984            B.Z.Wagman Gallery, St. Louis, Missouri

1979            Foster White Gallery, Seattle, Washington

1977            Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, California

1977            Craft & Folk Art Museum, Los Angeles, California

 

Selected Collections

Fine Arts Museum (De Young Museum), San Francisco, California

Henry Gallery, Seattle, Washington

Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C

 

Recent Publications

 

Museum of Art and History, Santa Cruz, California: Richard Deutsch Sculpture. 2001,  88 page Exhibition Catalog with essay Richard Deutsch by Bruce Guenther

 

The Business Journal, October 1998: "Public Art" by R. Kamna Narain (feature article describing Deutsch’s Sunnyvale project for Oakmead West.

Sculpture Magazine, Jul./Aug.1995: " Harvest " (Feature on commission at Oakland Museum)

The Museum of California, Winter, 1993 (Magazine of the Oakland Museum)

"Ideas Beneath the Surface: Richard Deutsch" (feature article by Myriam Weisang Misrach).

Artweek, January 29, 1992: "An Oakland Odyssey" by Leann Clifton

Urban Land Magazine, Sept.1991: "Integrating Art Into Development" (cover story) by P. Suter.

Voyage: From Ship's Propeller to Sculpture (catalog published by Bramalea Pacific, 1991) Photo essay by Terrence McCarthy, text by Paula Blasier.

Sculpture Magazine, Nov./Dec.1990: " Motion " (Wall Relief at Port of Oakland) by Elizabeth Broadrup.

Aldric