Francesca Ricci

Born in 1974

Italia

https://francesca-ricci.com/

date of insertion in W.A.D. 12/2022

Biography

I was born in Florence, where I studied Stage Design at the Academy of Fine Arts.

I lived for two decades in London before moving to Valencia, Spain where I currently live and work.

 I am a multidisciplinary artist and writer, and my work develops by ‘project’: the technique and format of the works adapts and develops organically according to it. My inspirations often come from other areas of human expression and from other disciplines that I love, starting from the written word – literature and poetry – to photography, cinematographic image and music, as well as philosophy and psychology, and stage design, that was my daily bread during the college years.

I’m interested in exploring the mutual contamination of word and image, and the territory in which they meet, with attention to the narrative potential of the image and the visual one of words. I am fascinated by traces and signs, not only as bearers of meaning but also for what they evoke on a personal level and as entities in themselves.

‘Making art’ is for me a sort of alchemical operation, the result of mixing many ingredients.

Regardless of the type of project, which can give my work a more traditional and realistic aspect, or, conversely, a more abstract or conceptual one, the territories I venture into and the concerns I try to investigate with my artistic practice are recurring: they have to do with how our inner world relates to external reality, how we relate to the ‘other’, whether coming from another time, place or culture; how a single woman, or a single man, can ‘inhabit humanity’.

During my years in London I had various experiences: I participated as a set designer and assistant director in “fringe” theater productions; I contributed to several print and online publications writing about art, literature and cinema; I co-edited two independent art and writing publications, “Interlude” (2004-2007) and “20×20 magazine” (2008-2013).

Since 2008 my practice has focused on a personal artistic journey. I have exhibited internationally in numerous group shows and developed two projects with writer Kiril Bozhinov: “I Beg You to Hear Me!” (2011-15) and “Tabula Impressa” (2013-ongoing) which have been exhibited and presented in the UK, Italy, Hungary and Spain.

In 2015, I collaborated with musician Gaston Gorga on PNEUMA, an experimental project that includes writing, live performance, sound manipulation, improvisation, and video. We have performed in various venues in London, and participated in independent and experimental film festivals.

At the same time, since 2007 I have been regularly collaborating with Rose Issa, a leading curator for contemporary art from the Middle East, assisting in the coordination of exhibitions, the editorial production of art books and catalogues, and the curation of website content.

Since 2019 I have been based in Valencia, Spain, where I am part of “Colonia”, an international collective of female artists, contributing to the dialogue on artistic practices and the contemporary art scene and participating in shared exhibition projects.

Curriculum

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS:

2023        ‘Elementos’, De Souza Gallery/Molí de l’Oli, Ulledecona (July 2023)

2022        ‘Reliquias del pasado en el presente/ Relics of future past’, La Joya Space, Valencia

                 ‘Dirty Pink. Sixteen International Female Artists’, Il Conventino, Florence

                 ‘Illustración versus Texto’, El Cau del Roure, Valencia

                 ‘Cartography of Care’, Edinburgh Palette, St. Margaret’s House, Edinburgh

                 ‘Palinopsia: Josie McCoy & Francesca Ricci’, The RW Project, Valencia (duo)

                 ‘Come Home’, Galeria De Souza, Casa del Dragón, Cervera del Maestre, Castellón

2021        ‘Tabula Impressa’, The RW Project, Valencia (solo)

                 ‘Dirty Pink’, Sporting Club, Russafa, Valencia

2018        ‘Normal Papers’, Fringe Arts Bath, Bath

2017        ‘Summer Salon’, Lubomirov / Angus-Hughes Gallery, London

                 ‘Antennae’, Lubomirov / Angus-Hughes Gallery, London

2016        ‘Imaginary Worlds’, Oriel Davies Galleries, Newtown, Wales

                 ‘Sixty’, Lubomirov / Angus-Hughes Gallery, London

                 ‘Between You & I’, Chapter Hall at Old Flax Store, Leeds

2015        ‘I Beg You to Hear Me!’, Black Spring Bookshop, Florence (solo)

                 ‘Summer Exhibition’, Circulo de Bellas Artes de Tenerife, Canary Island

                 ‘Into the Sun’, Aside Bside Gallery, London

                 ‘Hide & Seek’, Fringe Arts Bath Festival, Bath

                 ‘Appropriate Tarot’, ArteFiera Bologna

2014        ‘OFF THE WALL’, The 9th Terrace Annual Open, Fredrick Terrace, London

2013        ‘Tabula Impressa’, from the Rosa Gallery, London (solo)

                 ‘Celestial Bodies’, from the Rosa Gallery at the London Art Fair, (duo)

2012        ‘Cross Sections/01’, from the Rosa Gallery, London

2011        ‘I Beg You to Hear Me!’, from Rosa Gallery, London (solo)

2010        ‘20×20 magazine: collected visions’, Madame Lillie’s, London

                 ‘agency@theAgency’, The Agency Gallery, London

2008-9 ‘  Art/Value/Currency’, The Pigeon Wing, London and New York

SELECTED PROJECTS AND EVENTS:

2021   ‘Tabula Impressa/Glossary of Implications’, presentation, Book Festival

‘Sindokma’, Valencia

2020   PNEUMA – ‘Barattolo di Sale/Salt Jar’, screening and interview, Anharmonic Film Festival (online)

2019   ‘I Beg You to Hear Me! / Mosaico de Voces’, presentation, Book Festival

‘Sindokma’, Valencia

2018   ‘Tabula Impressa’, presentation, University of Szeged, Hungary

PNEUMA – ‘/string’: Première ‘At the Fair’, Art Walk Porty Festival, Edinburgh

2017        PNEUMA – ‘Salt Jar’, screening, The Horse Hospital, London

2016   ‘Artist’s Book Fair’, Baltic Center for Contemporary Art, Newcastle-upon Tyne

PNEUMA – Jar of Salt/Salt Jar’: screening, Poetry Film Parallax Event, NES Skagastrond (Iceland) y Backup Film Festival, Weimar (Germany)

2015   PNEUMA – ‘Salt Jar’: screening, Poetry Film Event, ICA, London (UK); Top 3, experimental section of Fareham International Shorts (UK); screening, WE ARE screening project, Wakefield (UK); live performance, Properganda at The Others and Bohemia Hackney, London (UK)

SELECTED PRESS:

Art In Valencia: Spotlight On Artists… Francesca Ricci, The Valencian, 9 Sep 2021 (web)

Russafart, Portes obertes dels tallers artístics, official catalogue, Imprevisual SL, Valencia 2020

Francesca Ricci Ricci y el inconsciente colectivo de ‘Tabula Impressa’, Makma, 23 Apr 2021 (web)

Tabula Impressa, Cooltzine #2, May 2019

Sauxdado, Criercrowd #1: ‘Lebensraum & Before’, 1 March 2019

Tabula Impressa, Wake Up Screaming E-zine, Edition #17: ‘The Mind’, 21 January 2019 (web)

Sauxdado, Cooltzine #1, May 2018

TERRACE 2005-2014, Curated and edited by Karl Bielik, November 2017

Life Stills, Average Art Magazine Issue 14, September 2017

White Nights, Pample-mousse magazine Issue 1, November 2016

A View from the Easel 75 by Philip A Hartigan, Hyperallergic (web)

365artists365days interview, August 2014 (web)

Divine Intervention by Francesca Gavin in Dazed & Confused, Volume III/27, November 2013

Tabula Impressa, Abraxas Journal issue 4, September 2013

dalla Rosa Gallery, Who, What, Where section, Garage Land, Issue 12, 2011

The Free Spirits of British Music and Russian Literature by Xhanti Skoulariki, London Info n.16, 2011

COLLEZIONI:

Museo dei Tarocchi (Tarot Museum), Riola (Bologna), Italia
Tarot Museum, Mechelen, Bélgo
National Art Library, Victoria & Albert Museum, London
Private collections in UK, Italy, Russia, Hungary, Spain, Portugal, Norway, Sweden and China.

STUDI:

2004               Raindance Director’s Foundation Certificate

1994-98         BA (Hons) in Stage Design, Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze

1998               Erasmus Programme, Southampton Institute