The Balancing Act

Marquez Knolls Artist Richard Harrington to Host Show at MĀVVEN Mercantile

By SARAH SHMERLING | Editor-in-Chief

It’s the best of both worlds for Palisadian artist and designer Richard Harrington, who balances his corporate work with personal endeavors to fully tap into his creativity.

Now the Marquez Knolls artist will host a show at MĀVVEN Mercantile on Antioch Street, which opens on Thursday, December 12, with an event from 5 to 8 p.m.

Harrington is a British artist and designer with more than two decades of experience “building a global portfolio” who resides in Marquez Knolls. He studied and began his career as a graphic designer in London—and has since worked with brands like Adidas, The Academy of Motion Pictures, Meta and IKEA.

“His work has significantly influenced the business success of some of the world’s most iconic brands through its conceptual rigor, visual excellence and effective activation,” his website read. “Richard leads with empathy for others and a humility that results from a deep curiosity to learn. He firmly believes that the combined impact of well-designed experiences, storytelling and digital innovation has the potential to captivate and engage audiences on an emotional level, sparking an intangible sense of curiosity and connection.”

In London, he worked with Universal Music MCA Records as a designer making visuals for musicians, like sleeves and tour materials: “Identities, essentially, for musicians and their music,” Harrington described. For example, a musician would hand Harrington a demo, tell him to listen to it and come up with a visual expression that he felt matched it.

“It taught me how to feel something towards the subject matter I was creating for,” he explained. “Working in the music industry gave me that fortuitous approach to how I still make my work.”

Harrington expanded from there, working in the worlds of fashion, entertainment and other brands. From London, he moved to Bali for a year with his then-girlfriend, now-wife, which is where he started to paint. While living there, he was reconfiguring his path, finding a way to blend his design work with personal pursuits.

“Yes I love my design work,” he said, “but truly inside me, I’ve always been sort of an artist as well. It gave me the mindset and the strength to go and pursue that part of my passion.”

The next stop for Harrington was Amsterdam, where he continued to design and also became familiar with the “Dutch sort of painting aesthetic.” During his 10 years there, he said there was a “really lively, healthy” design and art scene, so he “really loved working in Amsterdam.”

Then Harrington came to Los Angeles to set up a design department for 180 ad agency, which worked with brands like Adidas. He described it as a “wonderful opportunity.”

“I came and had this blank slate to create a world-class design agency for this incredible ad agency,” he said. “Traditionally they don’t live together, those two. Usually … an ad agency uses a graphic design service … but the challenge for me was to create a full-service branding design shop within this ad agency.”

After returning to Amsterdam and living in Sweden, Harrington came back to LA, eventually being hired by Facebook to help rebrand the company into Meta. Throughout all of these endeavors, Harrington explained, he continued to work on his art projects.

“I always maintain that the success of my design is very reliant on the other projects I have going on around me at the same time,” Harrington described, “which sort of act more like pure creative islands for me to go and hang out on … I always paint, always have multiple projects going on.”

These other projects range from charity work for nonprofits to individual art commissions—but for Harrington, they fuel a different side of his creativity.

“My real happy place, when I’m painting and making purely for myself,” Harrington said, “I feel like I really connect with who I am on a deeper sense … I think being able to let yourself go to that and listen to it is a gift.”

After years of individual art commissions, Harrington hosted his first solo show, titled “Around You,” in May at gallery169 in Canyon Square on West Channel Road. In the exhibition, he showcased his “passion of Californian aesthetics,” which drew “inspiration from color palettes, light and simplistic geometric forms.”

“By observing and capturing the unique color experiences that surround us in our environment, he believes there is hidden, colorful beauty in everyday life if we choose to look closer and embrace it,” read information about the show. “Richard’s paintings serve as visual portraits of light and color. Born from a fascination with the relationship between human and machine, his application technique explores tension, movement and a physical presence that can be felt in his works.”

His upcoming show at MĀVVEN Mercantile will showcase “his mesmerizing abstract art” with a “special edition … collection.” The opening evening reception will feature “drinks, nibbles, and the latest and greatest” from the store’s “fabulous vendors.”

The store, located at 15236 Antioch Street, was founded by Palisadian Lisa Waters to serve as a “home to a beautiful community of creators,” with a range of offerings spanning from yoga classes to sound baths, reiki ceremonies, special events and more. The space also has a selection of “curated homewares and wellness essentials.”

“The pieces I have worked on recently have been inspired by the early morning sea mist and the experience of color as the sun burns off during the day,” Harrington described. “It’s these really powerful visual moments that I’ve certainly experienced living here in the Palisades.”

Harrington detailed the visual changes the Palisades sees throughout the year, like the misty mornings with thick fog. He said there’s an “eeriness to the Palisades” when it’s like that, comparing the experience to Scotland.

“When you can’t see the houses beyond the hills, it takes on a lovely, different character,” Harrington said. “Then the sun starts to burn through that, and you get these wonderful hues of color rings of energy that appear, depending on the thickness of the cloud and the color of the sky and the time of day.”

He said that he is drawn to that as a visual, with his pieces trying to represent the feeling of light and color and energy trying to break through the mottled layer.

“When I see that and I’m getting into the Palisades, I always stop and just have a moment and enjoy it,” Harrington said. “Hopefully my paintings give people a sense of peace as well … even if that’s all they get from those paintings, I think there’s a value to that if someone can just connect with themselves for a moment.”

Harrington’s Instagram is available at instagram.com/richardharrington.art. For more information or to RSVP to the opening reception, visit mavvenmercantile.com.