Richard ‘Dickie’ Landry : Solos

Hunter Dunbar Projects is pleased to announce Solos, Richard ‘Dickie’ Landry’s (b. 1938) first

retrospective exhibition in New York. Landry’s polymathic practice encompasses music, photography, video, and painting. Landry was an original member of The Philip Glass Ensemble and has recorded and performed with preeminent artists including Bob Dylan, Talking Heads, Paul Simon, and Laurie Anderson. Featuring work from the past six decades, Solos will be on view at Hunter Dunbar Projects’ Chelsea location from June 12 through August 15. 

In 1969, Landry moved to New York City, where he met Philip Glass and became a founding member of Glass’ first ensemble. Landry forged relationships with prominent figures in the downtown art scene including Richard Serra, Steve Reich, Joan Jonas, Keith Sonnier, Gordon Matta-Clark, and Lawrence Weiner. Landry’s black and white photographs commemorate these artists as well as alternative art spaces such as 112 Greene Street and FOOD in SoHo.

From playing saxophone with Philip Glass and taking photographs of art and music performances, Dickie quickly moved into video. Inspired by his collaborations with fellow Louisianian Keith Sonnier, Landry began making video work and exhibiting at Leo Castelli Gallery. His early 1972 video work Sax was included in the 1973 Biennial at the Whitney Museum. While continuing to perform and record, Landry extended his practice to works inspired by the shape of television screens. This axonometric form became the basis for a series of Minimalist works on paper and vellum drawings. Early pieces such as his Line Drawings and Video Facets were exhibited at 112 Greene Street in 1975 and more recently at MoMA PS1 in 2016. 

Landry’s notable collaborations include performing with Philip Glass and Robert Wilson for their landmark opera Einstein on the Beach (1976) also well as composing and playing on four other productions directed by Wilson. Landry accompanied Robert Rauschenberg for his ROCI (Rauschenberg Overseas Culture Interchange) tour from 1985-1991 and played saxophone at the international exhibition openings. In 1987, Dominique de Menil commissioned Landry to write Mass for Pentecost Sunday for the opening of The Menil Collection. Landry’s latin mass premiered at The Rothko Chapel in Houston.

From the 1990s to present, Landry has focused his attention on paintings. Using the same outline as his works on paper from the 1970s, Landry creates compositions that emphasize internal juxtapositions of geometric form and color. In paintings such as Split Red (2001), a thin strip of red bifurcates parallel sections of black and gray triangles, creating an illusion of depth and space. With each painting, Landry keeps the same outline but changes the internal composition, creating a visual cognate to musical improvisation or variations on a theme.