Richard Tsao
Daydreamin’
March 27 – April 30, 2025
Amelie A. Wallace Gallery, SUNY Old Westbury
Opening Reception: Thursday, March 27, 2025, 4:00 – 7:00 pm
Artist Talks: March 27, 2025, 4PM and 5PM
Amelie A. Wallace Gallery, SUNY Old Westbury, is pleased to present a solo exhibition by abstract painter and accidental fashion designer Richard Tsao whose artistic inspirations come from his multi-faceted personal history, daily observations, and chance encounters with leaves, colors, and light, both real and imagined. A Thai-born longtime resident of New York City, Tsao presents Daydreamin’, a playful survey show of selected works spanning over four decades of his artistic career that includes abstract paintings, works on paper, fashion, and curious found objects.
Described by critic Holland Cotter as “chromatically opulent, process-intensive abstraction,” Tsao’s paintings are saturated with color and highly textured with years of layering on panels or canvases. Tsao’s “Flood Room” paintings, developed over the past four decades, are the result of a harsh, rigorous, and disciplined process of accumulating layers of color and water-based mixed media in a hot and humid room maintained at 110 degrees Fahrenheit. Tsao soaks, splatters, sprays, and throws paint mixed with fabric dye pigments and marble dust on seventy to eighty stacked canvases, all at the same time. The five-to-ten-year long process results in multilayered densely crusted surfaces that reveal the passage of the time with colors and pigments that bleed over the sides of the canvases. Retaining the shape of a canvas, the outcome grows beyond the framed structure and evolves into random shaped sculptural reliefs. The titles, referencing nature and other elements of the universe, suggest the landscapes of earth as well as extraterrestrial, flames, floods, and other natural phenomena. The organic characteristics of Tsao’s work reflect his interest in the processes of decay and rebirth.
While the physical materiality and performative process of Tsao’s work may place him in the US Modernist tradition, the pure chromatic beauty and abstraction link him to the concepts of immateriality and spirituality professed by figures such as Yves Klein. Tsao’s dominant color palette, ranging from luminous yellows and greens to hot pinks and lush oranges and reds, as well as the sweltering Flood Room, was inspired by his memories of growing up in Bangkok, where he experienced the sensorially rich nature of Thailand: the hot and parched earth during dry seasons followed by unpredictable floods from torrential downpours during the monsoon season, fiery hot spicy food, and color-saturated art, architecture, and fabrics.
More than a retrospective, the exhibition is also a moment of reflection on Tsao’s path of the emotions and visions that have shaped his work. At the same time, it presents a look forward, towards new inspirations and projects yet to be realized.
Artist Biography
Richard Tsao, who is of Chinese descent, was born and raised in Bangkok, Thailand. He came to the US in 1972 to study art and architecture at Ohio State University. In 1975, he left Ohio after discovering the Art Students League of New York, where for the next six years he passionately studied figurative drawing and painting, even though he was aware as a young artist that he would eventually evolve to become a non-figurative or abstract artist. His formative years were inspired by Cezanne, Rothko, and Yves Klein.
During the 1980s, after leaving art school, Tsao transitioned from figurative art to his signature “Flood Room” paintings. His first Flood Room studio (one of many) was on the Lower East Side, where he refined the process from oil-based to water-based work over four decades.
Tsao’s first solo museum exhibition, reviewed by Holland Cotter in The New York Times, was at the Queens Museum in 1995. His work was featured in numerous exhibitions during the 1990s, the most memorable of which, he says, were with Holly Block at Art in General, Gina Fiore Salon, and Wynn Kramarsky. Tsao’s work has since been exhibited and reviewed widely in the US and internationally. His recent solo shows include Richard Tsao: The Constant Gardener at MoCA Westport, CT (2023) and Rectangle at Art Project International, NYC (2024). Tsao is currently represented by Art Projects International.
In 2013, Tsao was honored for his art and fashion designs by the Asian American Arts Alliance at their 31st Anniversary Gala, which celebrates the achievements of outstanding Asian Americans in the arts. Humorously known as an “accidental designer,” because he has no formal training in fashion and cannot sew, Tsao spontaneously designs women’s clothing inspired by the beauty of luminous and luxurious colorful Thai silk. His classic, timeless, playful designs are exquisitely crafted, incorporating minute details from traditional Southeast Asian and Chinese garments. These creations are represented at major art institutions in New York and other US cities.
The public reception for Richard Tsao: Daydreamin’ is scheduled for Thursday, March 27, from 4:00 to 7:00 pm. The artist will attend the reception.
The exhibition is organized by Amelie A. Wallace Gallery Director Hyewon Yi. The artist thanks his parents, Hsu Hsin Mei and Sun-fu Tsao, An Xiao Mina, Art Projects International, Holly Block, Jane Farver, Joshua Filippone, Kathy Galitz, Todd Galitz, Junho Lee of NARS Foundation, Susan Sabreen, Hyewon Yi, and Kyung B Yoon.
About the Amelie A. Wallace Gallery:
Formally dedicated on May 22, 1979, the Gallery is named for the late Amelie Alexanderson Wallace in recognition of her unflagging support of the College and her personal commitment to the arts at Old Westbury. The Gallery exhibits Contemporary art by emerging and mid-career artists, as well as works by faculty and students of the Visual Arts Department. Public programs designed to accompany exhibitions comprise lectures and discussions led by artists and curators, as well as live performances and video presentations.
Gallery Hours:
Mon, Wed: 10:00 am – 8:00 pm
Tues, Thurs: 9:00 am – 8:00 pm
Fri: 10:00 am – 5:00 pm
Sat. 1:00 pm – 4:30 pm
Location:
Campus Center, Main Level
SUNY College at Old Westbury
Route 107, Old Westbury, NY 11568
Direction:
Long Island Expressway to exit 41N; 107N to the main gate of SUNY College at Old Westbury; turn left and follow
signs to Campus Center; go downstairs to Gallery on the main level. www.oldwestbury.edu.
Contact Info:
Director & Curator: Hyewon Yi, PhD
516-876-2709/3056
yih@oldwestbury.edu.