Joel Richardson
by Rob Sysak, September 5, 2015JOEL RICHARDSON
Joel Richardson is a contemporary artist whose work spans over twenty years. His extensive body of art includes large scale instillation, performance, re-workings of digital technology, video projections, portrait and mural painting. He rose to national attention in 2011 when then Toronto mayor Rob Ford erased his 150 meter long mural of a series of suitmen and women in business attire interspersed with the extensive Black-Scholes equation. This work was commissioned by the city of Toronto. The significance of this work with the eeriness of the Black-Scholes equation and its shady application to legally manipulate the stock markets, translated into further shows in New York, Miami, Moscow and Toronto. His recent major projects include a large scale multi-faceted historical exhibition in collaboration with the Tom Thomson Gallery.
“I am interested in how false representation can shape truth; what is sacred and what is profane and how they intersect and are entwined. This complex relationship between the sacred and the untrue – is at the core of my art practice.”