I received an MFA from the University of Chicago in 1983 and spent much of the 1980’s in Asia. After focusing on work and family throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, I returned more fully to my art practice in 2010.

I began drawing and painting from my sailboat, creating images that conveyed the sensation of instability - the physical experience of being knocked about on deck as the boat heeled in the wind. Over time my focus shifted from the boat to the water: the waves, their force and their unpredictability. Eventually I jumped overboard, turning my attention entirely to the movement of water: waves crashing onto the shore and colliding with one another.

Much of this work was created on the East End of Long Island, near where I grew up and where my wife, Caro (now my agent) was living when we met. In 2018 we moved to Rhinebeck, NY and my focus turned to the Hudson River. I became increasingly captivated by its geological history and its profound influence on both early and contemporary America.

As the river flows south into New York Harbor and merges with the Atlantic Ocean, it becomes part of a larger cycle - evaporating into clouds, returning as rain or snow and, eventually, feeding back into streams and rivers. Within this endless cicuit, the human notion of progress dissolves into the complexity of natural rythms

Because we are part of nature, we respond deeply to its movements; the wind through the trees, waves breaking on a rocky shore, water flowing downstream. These experiences remind us of our connection to the world, and to one another.

In my reading on climate and natural systems I encountered Andrea Wulf’s The Invention of Nature, a biography of Alexander von Humboldt. Humbold’s work, particulary in Cosmos, helped establish our modern understanding of nature as an interconnected global force. He wrote that the eye is not only the organ through which we see the world, but guides how we interpret and define it.

While humanity has made great strides in understanding and shaping the natural world, we have also begun to confront the consequences of our actions. Technological innovations alone are not enough. We must also shift our perspective on nature and our place within it. Art has an essential role to play in fostering that awaress.

- Richard Marr