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Biography
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EXHIBITIONS
Solo Exhibitions
440 Gallery, Bursting Out, 2006
Diesel Gallery, Alive on the Inside, 2005
Schoharie County Arts Council, Constructed Painting, Cobleskill, NY, 2004
Hope & Anchor, National Salvage, Recent Paintings, 2002
Fairleigh Dickenson University, Beneath the Surface, Teaneck, NJ, 2000
Long Island University, Brooklyn Campus, Constructed Paintings, 1998
Williamsburg Art & Historical Center, Coney Island, 1998
Group Exhibitions
440 Gallery, Small Works Show, 2005
440 Gallery, Mixed Metaphors, 2005
Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition (BWAC), Pier Show, 2000-05
Kentler International Drawing Space, 100 Works on Paper, 2004
Lucky Gallery (Inaugural Exhibit), Beginners' Luck, 2004
Tri-County Arts Council, Annual Juried Exhibition, Cobleskill, NY, 2003
Elsa Mott Ives Gallery, Ride Again : Coney Island, 1996
Federal Plaza, Park Slope Artists' Council, Federal Plaza I, 1987
La Mama Galleria, 5 Artists, 1985
Bush Terminal, Park Slope Artists' Council, Loft 2, 1985
Sideshows by the Seashore (Inaugural Show), Hysterical Coney Island, 1985
Colab, The Coney Island Show, 1981
Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn '81, 1981
Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn '79, 1979
COMMISSIONS
Nathan's Famous, Inc., Coney Island, Steeplechase, Come Back... (2,400 sq. ft. mural), 1983
Coney Island Chamber of Commerce, Photo boards, tickets, game booths, signage and facades, 1983-89
Ward Realty Co., Welcome Back to Coney Island (1,200 sq. ft. banner mural), 1983
Fund for the Borough of Brooklyn, annual Welcome Back to Brooklyn Festival, Brooklyn Trivia Booth, multi-media installation with performance, 1982-89
COLLECTIONS
South Street Seaport Museum
Coney Island USA
WAH Center; Nathan's Famous, Inc.
John Perreault; Victor Elmaleh
Carol Brightman, Camden, ME
Stan Mack, Los Angeles CA
Joe Bernardo
ART PROJECTS
Coney Island Hysterical Society, Co-Founder and Director, 1982-89
--Community-based membership arts organization. Developed and executed Arts projects throughout the Coney Island community.
Coney Island Spookhouse, Ride-Through Gallery-in-the-Dark, 1985 season
--A traditional amusement ride, transformed into an art venue. Included the work of over twenty artists and young community members. Opened to the public as an amusement ride. |
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Richard Eagan's Brooklyn roots are considerably deep--going back to his childhood haunts in Coney Island where he and artist Philomena Marano founded the ad hoc (and prescient) Coney Island Hysterical Society in 1982.
A childhood in Brooklyn, a turgid adolescence in the Connecticut suburbs, a return to the city for a career in the theater, an education at Columbia University (where he and his late wife, Andrea Boroff Eagan, were married behind the barricaded doors of Fayerweather Hall during the 1968 student strike), and a self-imposed exile to the hills of New Hampshire all led back to Park Slope. Here, Richard raised two daughters, founded the Brooklyn Woodworkers' Co-op and tried to disappear into the recesses of a semi-blue-collar life.
It was in 1978 that a series of Coney Island dreams evoked a desire to see his visions in concrete form and his cabinet shop began changing into an artist's studio. Eagan began work then on what has become an ongoing series of portraits of buildings-especially, places in Coney Island he remembered from his past.
Personal and family events, including the death of his wife, took him away from the studio for some time. Upon his return to his life as an artist, he was moved to begin a series of pieces that sought to reveal the secret life of dwellings--what lay beneath the surface of things and what was hidden behind walls and images. Much of what resulted was coincidental with the 'coming out' of Richard's female alter-ego, "Kay Sera," who was beginning a public life of her own that would lead to performance, a bit of flamboyance, and the ability to open doors for the artist whose creation she had been.
Today, Richard and his alter-ego can be found hosting and entertaining at Hope & Anchor in Red Hook during "Karaoke with Kay Sera" nights, co-hosting the annual Coney Island Mermaid Parade with WFMU's Chris T., and out and about in the art world at openings, events and receptions.
Richard and his new wife, Liz, divide their time between Brooklyn and an upstate farm where, just outside his rural studio, the artist's beehives yield a respectable annual crop of Kay Sera's Zippy Bee Honey, sold at 440 Gallery, Hope & Anchor, and select natural foods stores in Brooklyn.
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