Artist Jack Richtman was born in 1968 in Custer County, SD, situated in the heart of the Black Hills. A pioneering spirit, he is the fourth generation of the original homestead, settled by “Great Grampa Jack” in the mid1800’s. Tied to the land by history and curiosity, he creates paintings that abstract the natural topography of the landscape around him; the hills and valleys, the lakes nestled between, and the winding roads leading to these places of beauty. As a National Park, the Black Hills forest is an isolated oasis in a world of encroaching development. The wide expanses of color in his work, speak to this isolation. “South Dakota is a special place for me. There is a strong sense of history tied to the land in my family. The state is filled with an array of differing landscapes; reducing the shape of this land in its purest form is the focus of my work.”