SAVERY Gallery is thrilled to announce the upcoming exhibition: Roger Ricco : Paintings & Photography showing in Philadelphia from Friday May 8th, through Sunday June 14, 2015. There will be a reception for the artist on Friday May 8th, from 6 to 9pm and an Artist’s Talk on Saturday May 23. SAVERY Gallery 319 N. 11th Street Philadelphia PA 19107 267-687-7769
Roger Ricco : Paintings & Photography features work that spans from 2008 until today. Large scale paintings on canvas interspersed with digitally captured photographs line the walls of the main gallery and a collection of smaller photographs from his Eclipse series is displayed in the adjoining annex gallery. Heavily influenced by nature, the subjects are: flora, rock, jungle, birds, grottoes, as well as geometry and celestial beings. The artist employs photographic reference images, movie stills, fabricated tabletop “sets” and manipulations of scale as starting points for his technical exploration.
The paintings use a carefully limited dark palette full of inky blacks, grays and silvery-greens, no doubt influenced by the Northern light that filters through the enormous wall of glass in the artist’s Woodstock home and studio. Splashes of pinks, purples and cobalt blue add a luminosity, and a surprising femininity. Many of the works in the Jungle Dreaming series are dyptichs, connecting lines from one canvas to the other. His subjects emerge from dark washes of background with energetic marks as lighter, more detailed and recognizable plants, animals and environments. The larger individual canvases (some as large as 48×48) are representations of natural formations, bodies of water and looming natural occurrences, devoid of any evidence of humans or animals. The work presents nature that has been framed or captured elsewhere first, then investigates, follows, manipulates and finds moments of illumination. An other-worldly quality reverberates throughout the work.
In Ricco’s photographs from the Eclipse series, the artist also uses a pared-down color palette combined with similarly thoughtful formal presentation to present a study of what appears to be celestial bodies. Using arranged objects, studio sets and digital processing, the artist created images that appear as if they could have been captured by high powered telescope, or conversely, electron microscope. Their gallery presentation as deeply rich and satiny prints framed without glass allow the viewer to experience an intimate connection to the work while at the same time conjuring large, grand, metaphysically challenging ideas.
Roger Ricco is an internationally recognized multi-disciplinary artist working in painting, photography and video who is based in NY. He has won the Rome Prize in painting, worked with Irving Penn, and currently co-owns and operates Ricco-Maresca Gallery in New York City which represents the work of world-renowned Outsider Artists. He is a leading expert and multi-published author on Outsider Art.
Recently, he has exhibited with: KM Fine Arts, Los Angeles, Kenise Barnes Fine Art, Larchmont NY, Castell Gallery, Asheville, NC Mr. Ricco has also been faculty at School of Visual Arts in NYC in the Art History department and has lectured at Yale University, Bard College, Museum of American Folk Art, Cooper Union, and Zen Mountain Monastery among others.
For further questions, press inquiries, or images please contact Tory Savery: 267-687-7769 or 610-547-8434 gallery@saverydesign.com www.saverygallery.com
Roger Ricco : Paintings & Photography May 8th, through Sunday June 14, 2015. Reception for the artist on Friday May 8th, from 6:00 to 9:00pm and an Artist’s Talk on Saturday May 23.
SAVERY Gallery 319 N. 11th Street Philadelphia PA 19107 267-687-7769
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