Ugo Riva - In the Shadow of Piero

The iconography of motherhood is closely linked to the subject of the Madonna and Child. It is probably one of the most popular iconographies in the history of both Western and Eastern art. The Madonna and Child appears since the dawn of medieval painting and remained a constant subject as long as religious themes dominated artistic production (that is, until the 19th century, when themes inspired by everyday life began to be introduced).

Throughout his career, Ugo Riva's research has been directed at recovering the art of the past and reinterpreting it with a contemporary sensibility. In particular, Riva has always taken classical, Greek, Roman, and Renaissance art as a model. In this specific case, the very title of the sculpture reveals a deliberate intent to reference Piero della Francesca and recontextualize it for our time. The artist consciously draws on the Renaissance model, particularly the harmonious conception of the subject and the pyramidal, geometric structure typical of Piero della Francesca. However, Ugo Riva's language is contemporary. The form is synthetic, expressionist, and even the conception of space transcends the laws of perspective and phenomenal reality. Riva also frequently reconfigures his model, applying his own personal poetics of the "unfinished," leaving the sculpture's surfaces as if barely rough-hewn.

Ugo Riva, a Bergamo-born sculptor born in 1951, has always favored figurative art throughout his artistic career. Starting with a study of ancient classicism, he developed a masterful technique in the naturalistic rendering of subjects and anatomical precision. His attention later shifted to contemporary sculptors such as Manzù, Arturo Martini, and Marino Marini, developing a pursuit of expressionist values ​​and a poetics of the "unfinished."

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