I try to express my amazement of things I see by painting alternative versions of them.
Newark School of Fine And Industrial Arts, 3 yr. certificate , '61 -'63
Pratt Graphics, Printmaking Scholarship, '64
Montclair Museum of Art School, attended classes, '58-'60
Born in Montclair, NJ, Richard Toglia studied art at the Montclair Museum School and the Newark School of Fine and Industrial Arts and enjoyed two years of independent study in Italy. He has exhibited extensively across New Jersey and in New York City and is in numerous personal collections.
Richard considers himself a mostly representational painter, with the occasional use of abstract elements. He uses mildly surreal settings, but without symbols carrying specific meanings. The taste for the decoratively exotic is usually present in his paintings, with details that question visual perception.
Richard finds that some bad photographs can be grounds for good paintings: translating them into paint almost as they are, as if the camera flaws seem to mean something. Some of his work is direct realism but most of it has flights of imagination, unrecognizable elements and devices. His artwork is not autobiographical; sometimes he picks a topic as if it has been assigned to him to explore its possibilities and then he lets himself stray from the original idea to find out where it will lead.
Richard Toglia’s paintings have a surreal quality to them. While each element is recognizable and somewhat familiar, his unique style makes the scenes look other-worldly; smooth and perfect with beautifully harmonious colors and light that seems to glow. Finely detailed scenes entice the viewer to enter into the dream, sharing in this fanciful outlook.
