Title

Richard Harding.

Author

Williams, Deborah.

Publication date

February 2026

Type

Article

Country of context

Australia

Abstract

What follows is an essay by Deborah Williams, deivered at the opening reception of Richard Harding's 'Tickled Pink' exhibtion. APW thanks Deborah for her time, her insight and decades-long, unwavering support for Richard and his art-practice.

Full text

I would like to thank the Australian Print Workshop where Richard was not only employed for some time but also utilised the access studio for many years. Richard facilitated strong connections with the workshop, both personally as an artist but also in his role as Studio Lead of Printmaking at RMIT University.

When I was given the privilege of going through Richard's archive at the Australian Print Workshop, I'll admit I went in thinking I knew his work well. We'd been friends for so many years I'd seen countless pieces, and we'd talked endlessly about art. And yes, I'd seen these prints before—when I was younger, not long after or even when they were being made. But perhaps I didn't take as much notice as I should have then.

Going through them now, these prints from the late 80s and early 90s stopped me in my tracks. What I'd perhaps taken for granted in some way previously, I now saw differently. They revealed something I hadn't fully grasped about Richard's artistic journey—or perhaps hadn't been ready to see. This was Richard at a particular moment: ambitious, technically fearless, still finding his voice but already speaking with extraordinary power.

[Several of the] intaglio works you see here are monumental—not just in scale, but in presence. His command of soft ground technique, the way he built up those textures, the mark-making, the scraping back into the plate, is robust, seductive, almost Rouault-like in its intensity. These images carry an iconic quality, something almost religious in their weight

What's remarkable is understanding where this came from. I may very well be drawing a long bow here, but it is a possibility - Richard had lent me a book once—a collection of early Peruvian sculpture—and I kept it for months. When I was considering what I'd experienced making these selections, I remembered that book, and it was still on the shelf in his old office. And the affinity was there: these prints have a sculptor's sensibility. Richard was translating three-dimensional mass, the weight and monumentality of those forms, onto the two-dimensional matrix.

And then there are the smaller dry-points. These offer something completely different—they're intimate, almost diaristic. Here are images of family, friends, daily life. Moments of recovery. Scenes from his domestic space. The texture of living. They show us another side of his vision, equally skilled but working in a different emotional terrain.

I think this is why I wanted to show this body of work. Many of you knew Richard in his later years, saw the work he was making more recently, understood the artist he'd become. But these pieces—they give us Richard at a different moment. They show us his foundations, his ambitions, the sheer technical mastery he'd already achieved. They remind us of the depth and range of his practice.

Richard's prints are technically extraordinary, yes. But more than that, they're generous. They invite us to see what he saw, to feel the weight of form, the texture of life, the ambition of making something that matters.

Deborah Williams, February 2026

[APW media, 2026]

Last Updated

12 Mar 2026