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Gian Carlo Riccardi (Frosinone Oct. 21, 1933 - Frosinone Feb. 07, 2015) was a painter, caricaturist, theatrical actor and director, sculptor, musician, lecturer in costume and art history, writer and author of public and urban planning works.
Described by art critic Enrico Crispolti as a "multimedia artist," Riccardi was an artist capable of practicing interdisciplinarity while finding a link between the various artistic expressions he practiced.
After graduating from classical high school, in 1961 he graduated with honors in Scenography from the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome on Via Ripetta. During the academic period he is a student of Toti Scialoja and Mario Rivosecchi. After a few years, he earned a diploma in Theater and Film Direction at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinecittà before a commission chaired by the Taviani brothers and art history professor Maria Cremisini.
In the same period he made numerous caricatures for satirical magazines such as Il Travaso delle Idee, Marc'Aurelio, L'uomo Qualunque, Il Bertoldo, Simplicissimus, Il Borghese, La Tribuna Illustrata and Il Becco Giallo. At the same time he is engaged in the creation of set designs for RAI television broadcasts, where he works as an assistant to set designers Giorgio Aragno and Cesarini da Senigallia.
Riccardi's literary criticism is studded with the testimonies of prominent figures including: Enrico Crispolti, Alberto Moravia, Cesare Zavattini, Filiberto Menna, Franco Cavallo, Stefano Docimo, Elio Pagliarani, Angelo Maria Ripellino, Sergio Amidei, Vito Riviello, Giuseppe Bonaviri, Domenico Purificato, Umberto Mastroianni, Libero De Libero, Franco Miele, Maria Pia Fusco, Mario Lunetta, Angela Pastorino, Duilio Morosini, Nino Ferrero, Jolena Baldini, Alfonso Gatto, Michele Biancale, Aggeo Savioli, Piero Scarpa, Dario Micacchi, Nello Ponente, Luigi Montanarini, Giuseppe Sciortino, Costanzo Costantini, Pietro Favari, Giorgio Coletti, André Pieyre de Mandiargues, Cinzia Baldazzi, Alfio Borghese, Rocco Zani, Piero Umiliani and others.
Riccardi appears in Bolaffi catalogs and in numerous art and culture magazines, including Artecontro, Le Arti, La Fiera Letteraria, Flash Art, in encyclopedias such as the Enciclopedia degli artisti contemporanei Ed. UNEDI Rome, the Dizionario Enciclopedico Internazionale d'Arte Contemporanea 1999/2000 Ed. Alba Ferrara, the Enciclopedia dello spettacolo Ed. SEI Turin, L'arte moderna Ed. Medusa, Milan, L'élite 2000 Selezione Arte italiana Ed. L'élite Varese etc.
Painting
Gian Carlo Riccardi's first artistic experiences begin at an early age. Some pastel drawings on paper, reproducing cartoons from la Domenica del Corriere and the magazine Passa il giro, date from 1951.
Between the 1950s and 1960s he devoted himself mainly to caricature and drawing, depicting public figures (actors, politicians and musicians), the Amanti (couples in love where erotic content predominates) and the Fratini (humorous drawings of groups of friars, angels and devils).
In the 1970s Riccardi executed many graphic and pictorial works populated by Clowns, grotesque and disturbing figures.
In the 1980s and 1990s his painting production is characterized by intense abstractionism through the recovery and assemblage on canvas of different materials. Canvases are made through the use of ready-made and collage.
The works of the 2000s are characterized by a progressive return to childhood, a recovery of past memory in contrast to alienating everyday life and human passivity.
His works are in public and private collections in Italy and abroad. Major exhibitions include: the Galleria d'Arte Moderna Giraldi in Livorno, (1964), the Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome (1968), the Galleria Cecchini in Perugia (1977) the ArtExpo Review in Geneva (1984), the British Art Fair in the city of London (1985), the Magazzini Generali Cultural Association in Rome (1987), the Centre International D'art Contemporain collective at the Salons des Nations in Paris (1988), the Kodama Gallery in Osaka, Japan (1993), the International Art Review at Cooper Union University in New York (1993), the International Review of Visual Arts in Krakow (1995), the Art Buyers Caravan in Atlanta (1996), the Il Naviglio Art Gallery of Franca Rame and Dario Fo in Milan (1997), the Fundació Antoni Tàpies in Barcelona (1999).
Described by art critic Enrico Crispolti as a "multimedia artist," Riccardi was an artist capable of practicing interdisciplinarity while finding a link between the various artistic expressions he practiced.
After graduating from classical high school, in 1961 he graduated with honors in Scenography from the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome on Via Ripetta. During the academic period he is a student of Toti Scialoja and Mario Rivosecchi. After a few years, he earned a diploma in Theater and Film Direction at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinecittà before a commission chaired by the Taviani brothers and art history professor Maria Cremisini.
In the same period he made numerous caricatures for satirical magazines such as Il Travaso delle Idee, Marc'Aurelio, L'uomo Qualunque, Il Bertoldo, Simplicissimus, Il Borghese, La Tribuna Illustrata and Il Becco Giallo. At the same time he is engaged in the creation of set designs for RAI television broadcasts, where he works as an assistant to set designers Giorgio Aragno and Cesarini da Senigallia.
Riccardi's literary criticism is studded with the testimonies of prominent figures including: Enrico Crispolti, Alberto Moravia, Cesare Zavattini, Filiberto Menna, Franco Cavallo, Stefano Docimo, Elio Pagliarani, Angelo Maria Ripellino, Sergio Amidei, Vito Riviello, Giuseppe Bonaviri, Domenico Purificato, Umberto Mastroianni, Libero De Libero, Franco Miele, Maria Pia Fusco, Mario Lunetta, Angela Pastorino, Duilio Morosini, Nino Ferrero, Jolena Baldini, Alfonso Gatto, Michele Biancale, Aggeo Savioli, Piero Scarpa, Dario Micacchi, Nello Ponente, Luigi Montanarini, Giuseppe Sciortino, Costanzo Costantini, Pietro Favari, Giorgio Coletti, André Pieyre de Mandiargues, Cinzia Baldazzi, Alfio Borghese, Rocco Zani, Piero Umiliani and others.
Riccardi appears in Bolaffi catalogs and in numerous art and culture magazines, including Artecontro, Le Arti, La Fiera Letteraria, Flash Art, in encyclopedias such as the Enciclopedia degli artisti contemporanei Ed. UNEDI Rome, the Dizionario Enciclopedico Internazionale d'Arte Contemporanea 1999/2000 Ed. Alba Ferrara, the Enciclopedia dello spettacolo Ed. SEI Turin, L'arte moderna Ed. Medusa, Milan, L'élite 2000 Selezione Arte italiana Ed. L'élite Varese etc.
Painting
Gian Carlo Riccardi's first artistic experiences begin at an early age. Some pastel drawings on paper, reproducing cartoons from la Domenica del Corriere and the magazine Passa il giro, date from 1951.
Between the 1950s and 1960s he devoted himself mainly to caricature and drawing, depicting public figures (actors, politicians and musicians), the Amanti (couples in love where erotic content predominates) and the Fratini (humorous drawings of groups of friars, angels and devils).
In the 1970s Riccardi executed many graphic and pictorial works populated by Clowns, grotesque and disturbing figures.
In the 1980s and 1990s his painting production is characterized by intense abstractionism through the recovery and assemblage on canvas of different materials. Canvases are made through the use of ready-made and collage.
The works of the 2000s are characterized by a progressive return to childhood, a recovery of past memory in contrast to alienating everyday life and human passivity.
His works are in public and private collections in Italy and abroad. Major exhibitions include: the Galleria d'Arte Moderna Giraldi in Livorno, (1964), the Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome (1968), the Galleria Cecchini in Perugia (1977) the ArtExpo Review in Geneva (1984), the British Art Fair in the city of London (1985), the Magazzini Generali Cultural Association in Rome (1987), the Centre International D'art Contemporain collective at the Salons des Nations in Paris (1988), the Kodama Gallery in Osaka, Japan (1993), the International Art Review at Cooper Union University in New York (1993), the International Review of Visual Arts in Krakow (1995), the Art Buyers Caravan in Atlanta (1996), the Il Naviglio Art Gallery of Franca Rame and Dario Fo in Milan (1997), the Fundació Antoni Tàpies in Barcelona (1999).
