CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 9/6/2022

From this day forward, 'Richard Hunt' is a book no serious art library can be without

Featured spreads are from Gregory R. Miller's definitive new monograph on Chicago sculptor Richard Hunt. Spanning seven decades of pure artistic inquiry, this 352-page volume includes historical photographs, installation shots, images of Hunt in his studio, newspaper clippings and a section on major public commissions, alongside a plate section of significant works from throughout the artist’s career. A recent interview with art historian Adrienne L. Childs and an illustrated biography and chronology by Hunt's biographer Jon Ott are amplified by a host of scholarly essays. "To be creative is to not know what one is doing," Hunt is quoted. "The process of creation resolves the imbalance or irritation that initiated the desire to create something. Sculpture is a way of exploring, amplifying and giving form to my enthusiasms, which are wide-ranging and often intersect each other, technically, emotionally and spiritually. God said to man: I just gave you life; you make the rules you are going to live by. I value my independence. Value systems can give impetus, support, meaning and resonance to style. Sometimes it is not about making art. Sometimes it is about making statements about culture and history or history and culture with or through art. The goal is to wander, wander through the unknown in search of the unknown, all the while leaving your mark. Art can do it all: a life of doing things, a life of making things. Sculpture is habit-forming, lifestyle-forming; my hands are getting more like claws, or dull, worn talons."