Rick Gradone is a painter based in Los Angeles.

Artist’s Statement

The earth contains immense power

that dwarfs our awe-inspiring hubris.

Even a notion of “protecting” or

“preserving” the world reveals our

flawed perspective. Humanity will

expire long before the earth ceases

to exist.

Rocks represent the earth in its most

stable state, but their existence in

time means they will eventually be

gone. With millions of years carved

into their surfaces, rocks tell the

earth’s history of connections and

dead ends in a snapshot of form in

the present.

The ancient religions formed to

connect to the earth’s power. My

latest works are portraits of rocks

envisioned as studies for shrines

and monuments offering a

separate liminal zone in which to

contemplate larger realities and

truths. The inclusion of pedestals

and structures points to the

human architecture that builds

these spaces and creates their

meanings.

Rendered in a range of form from

the simple to the complex, this work

attempts perfection, but secedes to

the higher power that diminishes all

human invention.s The imperfection

of the work drives me the way the

earth redefines the lines of its shores

with every wave.