From a review by Loring Knoblauch

Richard Renaldi's recent portraits are built on a deceptively simple construct that turns out to be much deeper and more complex than you might initially expect. The idea is straightforward: bring two generally unlikely people (or groups of people) together and ask them to pose for a portrait. The wrinkle here is that Renaldi has required the sitters to touch each other: to embrace, hold hands, intertwine their arms, or otherwise get much closer than two strangers normally would. . While at first glance, some of these images have the look of large format family snapshots, the overall effect is often a wonderfully strange and awkward moment, where cultures clash, invisible boundaries are reluctantly crossed, and stereotypes are broken down. A closer look reveals unexpected connections between these people, where ethnicities, ages, genders, and personality types seem to melt away, and honest and authentic emotions seem to come through. The gestures run the gamut from stiff and wooden to tender and moving, exposing an entire spectrum of subtle social interaction. . I found myself drawn to those portraits that not only brought stark opposites together, but also maximized the available color and texture in the environment. Reginald and Nicole pose on a vibrant yellow concrete sculpture, Carlos and Alex stand in front of a lime green wall, and Lindsay and Mark square off in front of a pattern of cinder blocks. The image of Julie and Xavier was the most memorable picture for me; she in her wedding dress holding a champagne bottle, he in his yellow bandanna and oversized baseball shirt, oddly dissimilar, yet able for just a moment to come together and share their common humanity