"Since 2011, when I first reviewed Bill Rice's gritty nighttime views of New York City's Lower East Side, I have come to think of him as a singular chronicler of urban solitude between dusk and dawn. Using thin layers of sooty blacks, moody reds, dirty yellows, fiery oranges, and earthen browns, Rice depicted lone figures in compressed, smoldering settings, where inescapable isolation is his subject's only companion."
"Of the exhibition's 12 paintings, dating from 1973 to '95, only "Purple Blow" (1995) has more than one figure. As the title conveys, Rice depicts two men about to engage in fellatio, one standing and the other kneeling, with his arms by his side. It is not immediately clear whether they are in a room beside a bed with dirty sheets or outside in an urban cul-de-sac. They are not touching, and there is no hint of passion."
Bill Rice painted predominantly solitary male figures in nocturnal Lower East Side settings, using thin layers of soot-black, red, yellow, orange, and brown hues to create compressed, smoldering atmospheres. The exhibition comprises 12 paintings dated 1973–1995, almost all depicting single figures turned away from the viewer, enhancing a sense of voyeurism and estrangement. Scenes alternate between ambiguous interiors and urban exteriors, with moments of implied sexuality presented without passion. Recurrent themes include urban solitude, remoteness, and emotional isolation, conveyed through sparse composition, muted color palettes, and figures who observe unknown events beyond the viewer's sight.
Read at Hyperallergic
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]