Riccardo Licata - Untitled - MSAN013

The work draws on an Informal aesthetic language. The devastation wrought by World War II left a profound mark on Western civilization, which in the visual arts also resulted in an inability to communicate. For some artists, this challenge led to a complete rejection of any visual language, resulting in the birth of Informal Art. The various Informal movements are certainly connected to American Abstract Expressionism, especially with regard to the gestural component, but they go further in their rejection of any figurative element, even geometric. Their research focuses instead on the material from which their works are composed.

Riccardo Licata's approach to Informal Art is neither material (like the French artists Fautrier and Dubuffet) nor gestural (like Pollock's action painting). His artistic language, instead, is based on signs, finding a parallel in Italy with Giuseppe Capogrossi. Licata operates on a two-dimensional surface, creating an enigmatic system of signs. The painter thus displays a certain desire for form, but this is expressed in an indecipherable alphabet, connecting to the lack of communication that underlies Informal art.

Riccardo Licata was born in Turin in 1929 and passed away in Venice in 2014. He lived between Venice and Paris, where, after being Gino Severini's assistant, he took over as professor of mosaic at the Academy of Fine Arts in Paris. He participated in several editions of the Venice Biennale and the Rome Quadrennial, as well as other important international events. His language is composed of a kind of alphabet that he defines as a "graphic-pictorial writing" and which draws inspiration from music.

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