188 Second Avenue

Richard Britell, a career painter, studied at Pratt Institute with Philip Pearlstein and Walter Erlebacher. His first show in NYC at Staempfli Gallery was sold out, and reviewed in the New York Times by Hilton Kramer.  The artist currently lives in Pittsfield, MA.

Mr. Britell says of one of his early experiences as an artist, "I am not a New Yorker. This came home to me the first time I ever entered a gallery to show my portfolio. It was a large room in which were eight foot square black and white photographs of women's heads. In the corner was a beautiful woman talking on the phone in a German accent. I said, ‘I would like to show the director my portfolio’.  She said, ‘I'm sorry sir, this isn't a gallery, it's a hair salon.’  Later that same day I did acquire gallery representation. Four years later I had my first one man show which was sold out, and reviewed in the New York Times. Most of those paintings back then were of the architecture of Pittsfield, MA.  New Yorkers bought them all up. Now New Yorkers are buying up the city of Pittsfield itself, go figure.  Hilton Kramer, in his review of my work said, "If there is an element of nostalgia in these works it is not too bothersome…"  Of these current works I would say, if there is an element of nostalgia in them, it is entirely the point.  I learned to love New York, and I realized that it is possible to love a place in the same way that one might love a woman, in the same way, and with the same consequences”.