Richard Newton

BIOGRAPHIE

Richard Newton was born in Oakland, California. He currently lives in Pasadena, California. He attended the University of California, Irvine as an engineering, philosophy, and art student. Finally, receiving his Master of Fine Arts in art. Mr. Newton has shown artworks, films and presented live performance artworks throughout the world. His one-of-a-kind books were shown at DOCUMENTA in Kassel, Germany. Some performances by Mr. Newton have found him in unusual places. For 1980’s PUBLIC SPIRIT FESTIVAL, the audience found him performing behind a chained door in a downtown derelict hotel. Titled, Get Under The Table, Don’t Look at the Window, this performance dealt with family relationships, the nature of infinity and the threat of nuclear destruction. In another performance, the audience found The Man Who Could Eat Glass locked in his hotel room, ruminating on what it means to be American and to be held hostage. In 1982, Mr. Newton constructed The Grotto in the Skid Row area of downtown Los Angeles. It featured a well of beer, which was constantly refilled from The Grotto’s seeping walls of beer cans. The year before, in 1981, he constructed an isolated desert landscape at New York’s P.S. 1. The entire landscape, which filled an entire room in the gallery, was manufactured from flattened tin cans, broken beer bottles, and slices of bread. The only sounds were the intermittent crying of a baby and the persistent yelping of a small dog. Mr. Newton’s early art films and videos have shown at museums, galleries, ciné clubs, festivals, and on cable television. Starting its run in late 1997, Mr. Newton’s Flying with the Angels, directed and produced with Nancye Ferguson, has screened at festivals and independent venues around the world. It continues to be a favorite at festivals, winning awards, starting with the Nusch Award at the International Surrealist Film Festival. Another of Mr. Newton’s short films, Swift Nudes, won first prize at Certamen Internacional de Cine Ciutat D’Igualada, Barcelona, Spain. Mr. Newton’s first feature film, small white house won the award for Best First Feature and was runner-up as best film in the festival at the 19th Festival Internacional de Cinema, Figueira da Foz, Portugal. small white house also won third prize at the ARCO ‘91, 1st Exhibition of Experimental Cinema, Madrid, Spain.

FILMOGRAPHIE