Richard Loving (1924–2021) was an American artist and educator, primarily based in Chicago, Illinois.[1][2] He gained recognition in the 1980s as a member of the "Allusive Abstractionists," an informal group of Chicago painters, whose individual forms of organic abstraction embraced evocative imagery and metaphor, counter to the dominant minimalist mode.[3][4][5][6] He is most known for paintings that critics describe as metaphysical and visionary, which move fluidly between abstraction and representation, personalized symbolism taking organic and geometric forms, and chaos and order.[7][2][8] They are often characterized by bright patterns of dotted lines and dashes, enigmatic spatial fields, and an illuminated quality.[7][9][10][3] In 2010, critic James Yood wrote that Loving's work "mull[ed] over the possibilities of pattern and representation, of narrative and allegory" to attain a kind of wisdom, transcendence and acknowledgement of universals, "seeking understanding of self within the poetics of the physical world."[11]
^ abYood, James. "Richard Loving," in Spirited Visions by Patty Carroll and James Yood, Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1991, p. Retrieved July 6, 2021.
^ abGedo, Mary Mathews. "Abstraction as Metaphor: The Evocative Imagery of William Conger, Richard Loving, Frank Piatek, Miyoko Ito", Arts Magazine, p. 112–117, 1982.
^Schulze, Franz. "Richard Loving’s Abstract Imagism," New Art Examiner, April 1981.
^Adrian, Dennis. Chicago: Some Other Traditions, Madison, WI: Madison Art Center, 1983.
^Pincus, Robert L. Review, Los Angeles Times, July 1984.
^ abMoser, Charlotte. "Abstract/Symbol/Image: A Re-vision," Abstract/Symbol/Image, Chicago: Illinois Arts Council Travel Exhibition, 1984.