Mothes is an artist living and working in East Hampton. His work has been shown in galleries throughout the East End of Long Island and Manhattan. The majority of his work uses a combination of acrylic and oil paint in creating imagined moments of the past and future. By combining life drawings and paintings with previously taken and found photos Rich recreates images reflective of his life in East Hampton. He attributes the limited palette and moody tone of his work to the artists April Gornick and Andrew Wyeth who Rich considers major influences in both style and subject matter.

Rich's current MFA studies focus on the concept of home as something existing within the center of one’s universe offering stability within a chaotic world of uncertainty. His artistic practice explores his own relationship with home in both place and self as it relates to the impermanence of everyday life.

Artist Statement

I have always believed home to exist at the center of one's universe, offering its keeper feelings of stability within a world of uncertainty. Is the concept of home directly related to a place, or does it exist internally as part of the individual self? My artistic process explores my own relationship to home in both place and self as related to the impermanence of everyday life.

My paintings are meant to not only reflect the imagery of a given moment, but translate the accompanied emotion I feel within them. References of restorative, reflective and anticipated nostalgic themes place each image in a specific moment but unrelated to a point in time. Paintings are a culmination of life sketches, photographs, and conjured memories speaking to my own feelings of loss, anger, regret, loneliness, love, rapture and wonder, all existing within the confines of home. Each work of art begins with an emotive monochromatic value study of muted tones until the creation is fully realized.

Rich Mothes