Richelle Rich

Lives and works in Los Angeles, CA, USA

Artist statement

“I am interested in systems of power. I am fascinated by lost or forgotten stories, and the ways in which objects are magically contaminated by our history, emotions and memories.” In WISH YOU WERE HERE 2024, (video) LA based artist Richelle Rich (b. London 1967), is seen walking carrying a large vintage Mr Whippy (U.S. Mr Softee) at various coastal sites of her childhood in the South of England. The crumbling white chalk cliffs, the sites of dramatic landslides and fossils discoveries, and sandy sea side promenades of hotels and amusement arcades, on The Isle of Wight, provide the backdrop to imagery redolent of religious pilgrimage or the walk to crucifixion. Rich’s work is an excavation of ideas born of research, both personal and political. British urban legend has it that Margaret Thatcher, prior to becoming Prime Minister, worked on the emulsifier for soft serve ice cream. Iconic within popular culture, familial zeitgeists and visual storytelling Rich uses the ice cream, alongside other carefully curated white everyday objects, to create narratives and meta narratives exploring systems of power. Highlighting high and low culture, who is included and who is left behind, the ice cream facilitates a deep interrogation into people, place, class, and body politics. Throughout 2024 Rich has created participatory performances, sharing soft serve ice cream with the public in exchange for stories, that are concurrently documented. The ice cream becomes a memory machine,...

Artwork