Website: https://www.richardchungstudios.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/richardchungstudios
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/richardchungstudios/
Biography
Richard Chung is a figurative artist based in Omaha, Nebraska. His work centers on the human figure, using gesture, posture, and layered ceramic surfaces to explore movement, tension, and emotional presence. He earned a B.A. in Art Practice from the University of California, Berkeley, where he studied under Richard Shaw, and later worked as a studio assistant for Jun Kaneko. Chung has exhibited nationally, and his work is held in the permanent collections of the Daum Museum of Contemporary Art and the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art. He received Best in Ceramics at the 2021 Nebraska Biennial. In 2026, his large-scale bronze sculpture, Horizons, was installed at Omaha’s Central Library.
Artist Statement
My work begins with the human figure. I am drawn to the figure for its ability to hold many states at once—emotion, movement, tension, stillness, and ambiguity—without being limited to a single narrative. My goal is to capture a gesture that makes the figure feel alive. Because sculpture occupies the same physical space as the viewer, a convincing gesture can create an uncanny effect: something that appears alive yet remains completely still—a moment made permanent.
I hand-build each sculpture and develop the surface through repeated firings. Slips, underglazes, and glazes are layered interchangeably, with each firing altering what came before. Marks may be buried, softened, disrupted, or revealed again. Rather than resolve the surface into a polished finish, I allow irregularities and evidence of process to remain as part of the figure.
The work moves between representation and abstraction. Anatomy gives the viewer a familiar point of entry, while proportion, gesture, and surface are allowed to depart from realism when doing so strengthens the presence of the piece. I am less interested in depicting a specific individual than in creating a figure that feels recognizable.
Figure #201
Hand-built ceramic, high-grog clay body, slips, underglazes, and glazes; multiple firings to Cone 04
36”h x 12”w x 10”d
2023
$5,500