Remembering artist Michael Richards on September 11th

Michael Richards, Tar Baby vs. St. Sebastian, 1999

Dear Friends,

Today, we pay tribute to my beautiful friend, artist Michael Richards, who perished in the September 11th attack on the World Trade Center. His light shines even brighter since his major retrospective Michael Richards: Are You Down? was exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami (April 21 - October 10, 2021), North Carolina Museum of Art (March 4 - July 23, 2023), and The Bronx Museum (September 8, 2023 - January 7, 2024). 

Photograph of Michael Richards, nd

To learn more about Michael, the history of the exhibition, and the curators Alex Fialho and Melissa Levin, please purchase their new monograph, Michael Richards: Are You Down?, co-published as a companion to the major touring retrospective by the Center for Art Research and Alliances (CARA) and the Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami, available in November 2025.

On this 24th anniversary, we remember and honor everyone who died because of the orchestrated attacks on September 11, 2001. Let us hope and pray we live in peace at this time next year. 

Vive les arts - 

Blessings to you and your loved ones,

Beth

Michael Richards, Are You Down?, 2000

2' 10" x 22' 6" x 22' 6" 

Fiberglass, Bronze Bonded Resin, Concrete & Black Beauty Sand

Michael Richards FSP/Jerome Grant Recipient 2000

Franconia Sculpture Park, St. Croix Trail, Shafer, MN

   Michael Richards with Tar Baby vs. St Sebastian, photo: Frank Stewart at the Studio Museum from 1999. 

Michael Richard, Winged, 1999

Honoring Those Who Perished on 9/11/01 and after; Michael Richards Remembered

 

Remembering Michael Rolando Richards, 

Who Perished on September 11, 2001 

in the World Trade Center Attack

The Tar Baby vs. St. Sebastian, 1999

Michael Richards (August 2, 1963 - September 11, 2001)

It is a very sad week. We lost a formidable monarch, Queen Elizabeth II and ended an era in history.  Today we remember the victims of 9/11 - those who perished on that day and those who died from exposure to the toxic air and ash in the aftermath.  I will honor the memory of Queen Elizabeth II in another post. Today, we honor those we lost 21 years ago today.  Here is an updated version of a post from September 11, 2013:

Sculptor Michael Rolando Richards died in the attack on September 11, 2001. At the time, he was enjoying a fellowship with World Views, an artist-in-residence program sponsored by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. He had been hard at work on his project, The Tuskegee Airmen, dedicated to the memory of the African-American air force who were segregated during World War II.

Michael Richards (American, 1963-2001). Free Fall, 1997.

 Fiberglass and resin with iron oxide. 72 x 24 x 19 in. (182.9 x 61 x 48.3 cm). 

Contemporary Art. Anonymous gift in honor of Michael Richards. 

Image courtesy Brooklyn Museum

Michael had attended an opening at the Grey Art Gallery on September 10, 2001 and then decided to head for his WTC studio on the 92nd floor in Manhattan to work.  Living in Rosedale, Queens at the time, he skipped the long commute home in favor of staying overnight in order to continue working into the wee hours of the morning. When the planes struck at 8:45 a.m., he might have been getting ready to go to work at the Bronx Museum of the Arts, where he was a freelance preparator.

Winged, 1999

That Richards was killed by an airplane piercing the body of a tall, trim tower seems eerily coincidental and almost mystical. Richards' well-known sculpture Tar Baby vs. St. Sebastian,1999, features the artist's own tall, trim body as the full-length male figure standing straight and lifted off the floor by a slender pole. The gold resin body, clad in a military uniform, bears numerous small airplanes driven into the torso, their noses piercing the surface like the arrows buried into St. Sebastian's flesh as he became a martyr to his Christian faith.

Michael Richards Retrospective on Governor's Island, Summer 2016

Michael Richards' faith was in humankind. He truly believed that our better angels would prevail - even in the face of political turmoil, bigotry, racism and injustice.  Curator Jorge Daniel Veneciano, who organized Richards' exhibition at the Studio Museum in Harlem in 1996, pointed out that the artist's reference to flight worked on two levels: the flight away from repression and the flight toward redemption.

In Free Fall, his 1997 sculpture of a male figure carrying a parachute pack on his back, the artist seems to speak of that dual experience. Here a Tuskegee Airman prepares for flight, focused on the mission and his survival. He willingly accepts the risk while he relies on his experience, skill and a parachute (a metaphor for community of support?) to see him through. And yet, there is exhaustion in these faces and bodies.  Their patriotism may take them physically into the skies, but their souls remain grounded in despair. When will tolerance replace hatred and war?

Michael Richards, Are You Down?, Franconia Sculpture Park, 2000

Richards' life hardly touched Tuskegee, Alabama. Born in Brooklyn on August 2, 1963 to a Costa Rican mother and Jamaican father, Michael Richards lived in Kingston, Jamaica during his childhood. He graduated with honors from Excelsior High School and then returned to New York to pursue his undergraduate degree at Queens College, which he completed with distinction in 1985. He went on to earn a Master's Degree in Arts from New York University in 1991. While at NYU, Richards worked as a preparator at the university's Grey Art Gallery.

In 1993, Richards participated in the highly-coveted Whitney Museum Independent Study Program, followed by an Artists-in-the-Marketplace Program at the Bronx Museum of the Arts in 1994.

From 1995 to 1996, he participated in the Artist-in-Residence program at the Studio Museum of Harlem and The Space Program, run by The Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

In 2000, Richards received the Franconia Sculpture Park/Jerome Fellowship. Today, his project for the part Are You Down? is on display in this Minnesota park and has become the Michael Richards Memorial. It consists of three airmen (cast from Richards' body) sitting in a circle surrounding a target, facing outward. Originally created in fiberglass, Franconia hopes to raise enough money to cast the work in bronze in order to preserve the work in perpetuity.  A film about the project can be found here. 

The Tuskegee Airmen series highlights a squadron of African-American pilots in World War II--formally called the 332nd Fighter Group in the U.S. Army Air Corps--who were segregated from the other Army units. Despite this racist slight, the squadron excelled in its service to this country. Some sources have said that no airmen lost their lives on a mission during the war. This assertion has been challenged since 2006. However, in Richards' day, the reputation of the Tuskegee Airmen remained almost mythic--as Richards' works tend to be.

The name Tuskegee also brings up the association with the notorious syphilis experiment conducted by the U.S. Public Health Service from 1932 to 1972. Infecting African-American sharecroppers, the scientists wanted to observe this horribly destructive disease. Another example of racism in the United States, this experiment withheld penicillin (which became available in 1929) from its subjects. During the course of this experiment the wives and children of the subjects were infected, too.

Clearly, Tuskegee resonated with Michael Richards for a number reasons.

At the time of his death, Richards was working on Fallen Angel, a life-size piece based on his own torso that was meant to be positioned on the floor. Wings were attached to the back with one wing broken off and left on the floor. Today it serves as a metaphor for the artist’s life and death.

Executive Director of the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council in 2001, Liz Thompson noted that "He was so promising. He was on a tear." So true.

Today, we remember him for all that he was and all that he was meant to be. And we mourn the loss of a great artist and equally wonderful friend. A memorial was held at the Studio Museum of Harlem on September 23, 2001.   

Click on this link to see photos of "Art You Down?," a retrospective, North Miami Museum of Contemporary Art, April 21 - October 10, 2021.  Videos about Michael Richards and a curators' tour are also on this website page. Please scroll down to find this recordings.

Other Exhibitions:

• Governor's Island, Summer 2016
• Grey Art Gallery, New York University , New York
• Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
• Aldrich Contemporary Museum, Ridgefield, CT
• Studio Museum of Harlem, New York
• Bronx Museum of Arts, New York
• Miami Art Center, Miami, Florida
• Franconia Sculpture Park, Franconia, Minnesota
• Socrates Sculpture Park, Long Island City, New York
• North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC
• Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, IL
• The Debeyard Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Artists' Space, New York

We still miss you, Michael.

September 11, 2001 - We Remember . . . Memorials Around the World

Dedicated the the Victims of September 11, 2001 - 

on this 20th Anniversary, September 11, 2021 -

And those who lost their lives working/living on or around the toxic site following the attack on the World Trade Center Towers

We still grieve with their families and friends

and we extend to them our heartfelt condolences

Reflecting Absence

National September 11th Memorial and Museum, NYC, Ground Zero

Designed by Michael Arad Architect and Paul Walker Landscape Architect

and Associates

National September 11th Memorial and Museum, NYC, Ground Zero

FDNY Memorial for the Fallen on September 11th, South of the WTC Museum

FDNY Memorial for the Fallen on September 11th, South of the WTC Museum

The Tribute in Light 

Conceived by artists John Bennett, Gustavo Bonevardi, Richard Nash Gould, Julian LaVerdiere, 

and Paul Myoda, and lighting consultant Paul Marantz.

September 11th Memorial for the Pentagon Attack, Arlington Cemetery, VA

For United Flight 93 - September 11 Memorial in Shanksville, PA

Tower of Voices, Shanksville, PA

Designed by Paul Murdoch

 

Tower of Voices, Shanksville, PA

Designed by Paul Murdoch Architects and BioLINIA, landscape

National Park Service

Tower of Voices, Shanksville, PA

Designed by Paul Murdoch Architects and BioLINIA, landscape

National Park Service

Wall of Names, Shanksville, PA

Wall of Names, Shanksville, PA

September 11th Memorial, Boston Logan Airport, MA

Designed by Moskow Linn Architects of Boston

September 11th Memorial, Boston Logan Airport, MA

Designed by Moskow Linn Architects of Boston

September 11th Memorial, Boston Logan Airport, MA

Designed by Moskow Linn Architects of Boston

Empty Sky, Liberty Park, Jersey City, NJ

Designed by Jessica Jamroz and Frederic Schwartz

Postcards, North Shore, Staten Island, NY

Designed by architect Masayuki Sono

The Rising, Kensico Dam Plaza, Valhalla, Westchester County, NY 

Designed by Frederick Schwartz

Teardrop, September 11th Memorial Bayonne, NJ

Gift of the Russian People

Remembrance Walk, September 11th Memorial, Monroe Community College

Monroe, NY, part of SUNY 

Cedar Grove High School, 2977 flags for each person lost in the World Trade Center

Twentieth Anniversary of 9/11 Attack

September 11th Memorial, Elko, NV

Designed by Joan Anderson and Jacques Errecart

Memoria e Luca, Padua, Italy

 Designed by Daniel Libeskind

Memoria e Luca, Padua, Italy

 Designed by Daniel Libeskind

September 11th Memorial, Modena, Italy

September 11th  Temporary Memorial in 2018, Paris, France

Twin Tower, Ramot, Jerusalem, Israel

9/11 Memorial Plaza

Designed by Eliezer Weiskoff

Memorial garden in Grosvenor Square opposite US Embassy honors all victims of 9/11 

with particular focus on the 67 UK citizens who lost their lives in the attacks.

And dedicated to our friend, artist Michael Rolando Richards, who perished in the attack 

(August 2, 1963 - September 11, 2001)

Beth and the New York Arts Exchange

 

Michael Richards' Exhibition Curators' Virtual Tour on Wednesday, April 28, 2021 at 7 pm

 

Michael Richards, Tar Baby vs. St. Sebastian, from the Tuskegee Airmen series, 1999

Please join us for the curators' virtual tour of

Michael Richards: Are You Down?

an exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami

at 7 pm, Wednesday, April 28, 2021

with curators Melissa Levin and Alex Fialho

To register, click on this link

I hope you will be able to attend,

Beth and the New York Arts Exchange

Remembering Michael Rolando Richards (Brooklyn, August 2, 1963-WTC, September 11, 2001)

Michael R. Richards, Winged, 1999

 

 “The idea of flight relates to my use of pilots and planes, but it also references… the idea of being lifted up, enraptured, or taken up to a safe place–to a better world.”  

 ---  Michael Richards

Michael R. Richards in Miami, 1999

On September 11, we remember the vibrant Michael Richards, whose career was certainly on the ascendant when planes attacked the World Trade Center, killing him in the studio of the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council on the 92nd floor of the North Tower. Thousands perished on that day and subsequently from health-related conditions caused by spending time at the site, cleaning up or living in the area.  The devastation of this heinous act goes well beyond the recorded and unrecorded. We are still processing the moment and the aftermath.

Michael R. Richards, Tuskegee Airman, 1999

We are also still processing the loss of Michael Richards, especially at a time when his work is more relevant than ever.  We see the model Mustang planes piercing his sculpted body in a Tuskegee Airman's pilot suit and think "how prescient!"  The miniature planes remind us of the attack from the massive passenger jets piercing the WTC Twin Towers on that sunny morning in 2001.  

Michael R. Richards, Are You Down?, Franconia Sculpture Park, created in 2000, installed in 2012

Today, nineteen years later, Michael Richards' work seems more relevant to the Black Lives Matter moment, because he work always addressed BLM issues: Black aspirations met with systemic racism that weighed down upward mobility. In Winged (1999) we see black arms fringed in feathers, spread out like Christ on the Cross, reminding us of persecution and the desire to transcend the daily grind of microagressions.

Richards said that his work“allows for an examination of the psychic conflict which results from the desire to both belong to and resist a society which denies blackness even as it affirms. In attempting to make this pain and alienation concrete, I use my body, the primary locus of experience, as a die from which to make casts. These function as surrogates, and as an entry into the work.”

From this statement, we can continue to believe that Michael Richards still lives among us, in these personal effigies that speak more powerfully and poignantly in our current political climate. 

Michael Richards: Winged, a retrospective exhibition  on Governors Island, Summer 2016

The Michael Richards Grant to support a Miami-Dade artist was established by Oolite Arts a few years ago.  For more information click on to this link.  For more information about Oolite (formerly known as the ArtCenter/South Florida), click on to the link here:

Today we remember Michael Rolando Richards.  May his memory be for a blessing.

The New York Arts Exchange

 

Remembering artist Michael Richards at Francis Naumann Fine Art on September 11th

Michael Richards, Tar Baby vs. St. Sebastian, 1999

at Francis M. Naumann Fine Art, through November 17th

A tribute to Michael Richards, the artist who perished in the World Trade Center attack on September 11, 2001, opened on Friday, September 8th at Francis M. Naumann Fine Art, 24 West 57th Street, NYC.  The gallery will be open on Monday, September 11th from 11 am to 6 pm, in honor of Michael  Richards' and all the victims of the 9/11/2001 attacks.   

The New York Arts Exchange joins with Francis Naumann Fine Art in honoring Michael Richards and all the lives cut short because of those heinous acts of terrorism. Our hearts go out to the first responders and those who worked on Ground Zero, who still suffer from the health-hazards posed by this toxic environment.  We remember you. We salute you. We still mourn you who perished on that day or because you stayed to help in the aftermath.

Michael Richards, Are You Down?, 2000

2' 10" x 22' 6" x 22' 6" 

Fiberglass, Bronze Bonded Resin, Concrete & Black Beauty Sand

Michael Richards FSP/Jerome Grant Recipient 2000

Franconia Sculpture Park, St. Croix Trail, Shafer, MN

Michael Richards' biography and legacy are available here, on the Francis M. Naumann Fine Art website and also at the Franconia Sculpture Park website, where an installation of Michael's Are You Down? is on permanent display.

Uncannily prescient, this Tar Baby pierced with planes, like St. Sebastian's tortured body pierced with arrows, "... was about death," Michael's art dealer, Genaro Ambrosino explained in the press, and: “ . . . about liberation, freedom, being able to escape. It was a sad message because of what it meant historically … It was like redemption from all that.”  

The relevance of Michael Richards' work continues to resonate in ways beyond his experience of America's inability to deal honestly with racism. Take note that he felt optimistic and empowered to make a difference, to right a wrong, to enlighten where there was ignorance or denial.  We hope his work will eventually become known for its excellence above all else.

Michael, your light shines on.