About
MONICA J. RICH
Bio
Monica J Rich is an architect and painter living in Brooklyn. She grew up in Manhattan with a strong background in art, having worked at the Asia House Society during school and taken classes at the Art Students League. She had a solo exhibition as a senior at her high school, where Thomas Hoving, then head of the Metropolitan Museum, saw her work and purchased a piece. Although accepted to Cornell as a Fine Arts major, she decided to study architecture. However, she still took fine arts classes and did an independent study with artist Sandy Winters.
She took a hiatus from painting, while raising her two sons and having a career in architecture. Upon returning she decided to paint in gouache, instead of oils as before, due to gouache being more environmentally friendly and water soluble. Over the last ten years she has continued to explore gouache as a medium for her landscape paintings, whose subjects have been drawn from extensive domestic and international travel.
After trips to Rome, Sicily and Austria she was inspired to paint ruins and landscapes. She also had a chance to visit Hawaii and has painted the islands in many ways. During the pandemic she explored closer to home and has been exploring painting Still Lifes.
For many years she did not share her work with the public, but her recent trips have led to her desire to show her work publicly.
2019
She was included in exhibits at the Greenpoint Gallery and the Ground Floor Gallery both in Brooklyn. She was also chosen to be included in the prestigious Studio Montclair Visions show and included in the Gowanus Open Studios show and LIC Arts Fall Show.
2020
Early in the year she was included in Transformation Show at La Bodega Gallery and the Arts Gowanus Gala. She was also included in an online show at Las Lagunas Gallery in California and Medford Arts Center.
2021
She was included in the “We’re Still Here” show in Brooklyn and Gowanus Open Studios 2021.
2022
She exhibited as part of Gowanus Utopias in 2022. She was chosen as one of six artists to be in the Landscape show at the prestigious Cold Air Fine Arts Gallery. She was included in Atelier Canal’s summer show and State of the Art at Studio Montclair. Most recently in the Small Works show at Gallery 440.
2023
Participated in Art by Architecture at the Center for Architecture, and included by Las Lagunas Gallery in Art by Women show. In the summer included in B Dry Goods Gallery and Amos Eno Gallery shows. Also included “Together we will” a show by Arts Gowanus artists.
2024
Included in The Tower Show at The Other Art Fair and the curated show Works on Paper at BWAC. Also included in the Honey Badger Motel Art Gallery BK Summer show and artist talk. For the second year included in Arts Gowanus “Together we will” banner show.
Artist Statement
As a formally trained architect I learned about design and construction. As an artist I became fascinated by the ways that nature has broken down ancient architectural remains, either through weathering, plant growth or other natural means. It’s as if one is viewing architecture in reverse. During my hiatus from painting I experienced an illness that made me more aware of the immediate environment, including the paints and solvents that I used. Upon returning to painting, I felt strongly about using environmentally friendly paints and turned to gouache. I build up the surface of the paintings gradually, which is how I achieve opacity and texture.