A trio of Reynolds Gallery exhibitions — Sylvio Lynch III’s “Drawn Discovery,” Matt Phillips’ “Closer to Song” and Richard Roth’s “Hell Gate,” all on view Nov. 13-Dec. 23 — offers firsts and favorites. The pandemic delayed the shows scheduled for April, but on Friday they’ll open with an all-day reception from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with safety protocols in place.
“The best news with the postponement is that they had time to continue painting,” gallery director Alice Livingston says of Roth’s and Phillips’ work.

Richard Roth, "Bada Boom," 2019
Artist, author and designer Richard Roth, a Virginia Commonwealth University professor emeritus now living in California, used the title from one of his paintings to name his seventh solo show at Reynolds, “Hell Gate.” The name refers to a narrow tidal strait in the East River of New York City, reflecting childhood stories from his father about the treacherous waterway and also the nation’s present tumult. His pieces include a series of sculptural, boldly patterned and eye-fooling, three-dimensional works alongside paintings that bop with the energy of Blue Note album covers.

Matt Phillips, "Unsolicited Advice," 2020
A similar sense of musicality comes through New York-based Virginia native Matt Phillips’ first solo Richmond show, “Closer to Song.” In this exhibition, pigment and silica on linen pieces make sound visual as organic shapes and modulated values. Phillips in his artist statement observes, “I believe that just as a song suspends the written word, rhythm moves the body, and melody maps the rise and fall of the human spirit, paintings hold and transmit the most fleeting sensations of life: thought, emotion, memory, touch and light.”
Upstairs, visitors will experience the premiere of the gallery’s Launch Project, a program organized by directors Livingston and Julia Monroe to widen the scope of the work presented there. “We asked, 'How do we branch out and introduce ourselves to communities that aren’t already part of our network, outside of the typical art school gallery structure?' ” Livingston recalls. An open call for submissions brought Lynch to their attention.

Sylvio Lynch, "City 1," 2019
A once and present Richmonder, Lynch’s graphite creations address the challenge of creativity and his return to the city environment after 20 years away. He studied architecture at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte and North Carolina State University and completed his doctorate in public history from Bowling Green State University. He’s illustrated children’s books and made art for hotels, but this is his first ever gallery show. He came back to Richmond to be nearer to family and, pre-pandemic and post-doctoral degree, figure out his next professional steps.
“Closer to Song” features two series; one includes meticulous drawings of crumpled and partially unfolded paper and the other alleyways and glimpses of city objects.
“There’s always that scene in films or shows about writers, or artists,” Lynch explains, “where they’re working on a concept, and balling up paper and tossing it in the trash, and then they realize, ‘Oh, that was the idea!’ and they dig it out and open it up.”
For the most part, Lynch works from photographs he’s taken. His return to a Richmond much changed from his youth inspired his capturing back lanes and overhead wires. Lynch presents views familiar to those who’ve walked these streets but through the pencil of a returned native.
“At first I wasn’t looking to frame references for pieces,” he describes, “but I [thought], ‘Wow, look at Richmond.’ I would stop in some cases and sketch. An extra step is to take a general picture and think about it for five seconds. Then I look back on it and maybe crop it, be more impulsive about my general experience. From there, sometimes re-sketch it in my sketchbook.”
There’s a hint of Edward Hopper in these depictions. “Oh, I went to that show several times,” he enthuses about the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts exhibit. Through his architectural studies, though, he became introduced to the fantastical metropolises rendered by Hugh Ferriss.
“I didn’t want to tell some narrative of the city,” Lynch reflects. “There was a randomness I wanted to keep.”
In combination, the three exhibits at Reynolds are lyrical and metaphorical and, perhaps, showing you something you knew, but allowing you to see it as though for the first time.