The sculpture of Richard Marx is an exploration of the human figure. His use of the figure ranges from a celebration of form and surface, to a search for understanding of human dynamic. While his early works show a lot of play with the form of the figure, his later works add an intimate relationship with the planes, with the skin, of the body. These works invite you to run your eyes around his forms. 

In the early days of his work, RIchard purchased a loft in Soho in 1969. In claiming this raw  space, he joined a wave of artists, the Soho pioneers who paved the way for NYC to change its zoning in that then-manufacturing district so that artists could legally live and work in the available large spaces. At the time, no one knew that the search for space to create massive forms, throw plaster, etc., would lead to revolutionary change in lower Manhattan, with enormous consequence to the art world of New York CIty and indeed of the world.

The loft also served as a gallery space where he could show his work, while also exhibiting with other artists in a variety of places, including at Westbeth and Viridian Gallery. As the Soho gallery scene developed, he exhibited his work at Vorpal Gallery on West Broadway.

RIchard studied sculpture at the Art Students League, which has always been a rich gateway to friendships with other artists. He met his future wife there, also a sculptor, and together with their two sons they traveled back and forth over two decades to the sculpture mecca of Pietrasanta, Italy. There they produced works in bronze and in marble. 

While doing all this, Richard worked in the public health field, on substance abuse treatment. In fact, his presence in Pietrasanta in the early 1980’s was significant in introducing the Italian treatment community to that of the United States. But, that’s another story.

Also concurrently, Richard planted seeds of a life in the Hudson Valley, alongside his NYC life with his job and his artistic endeavors. The need for space was a journey that resulted in the purchase and conversion of an early Dutch Reformed Church in Alligerville, NY in the 1970’s. Today he and his wife, Madeleine Segall-Marx, in addition to their Soho live/work space, create and house much of their work in their studio/barn at WaveCrest in Hyde Park, NY. Richard was an early member of the Woodstock Art Association, and currently he is represented by Albert Shahinian Fine Art in Rhinebeck, NY.

The richly organic forms that comprise Richard Marx’s sculpture serve his purpose and intention. And that is to study and expose what it is to be human, from within the individual, to the psychology of the family dynamic, to exploration of faith and power in human relationship.