Mare Nostrum, 2009, 168 x 28 ( 66.14” x
11”), Collage with newspaper and red wine
on an old shovel
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Resident Artist at (Re)Create during the Spring to Fall of 2009
Having engaged subjects as diverse as political icons, natural and animal elements and human portrait, my work reproduces emotionally charged pictorial language, arranging them into new conceptually layered pieces. These themes are combined into collages that feature a traditional Chinese sketching painted monochrome, juxtaposed on green tea treated paper with iron oxidation, and embellished with uncoated white painted stenciled multilingual text. The color white reinforces the real quality of words, suggests a sense of time, and formally connects the disparate parts in each picture. The texts from fragments of poems and cubist paintings provide clues to content and interpretation. I use a variety of different papers and processes in each project with consistent methodology. The subject matter of each body of work determines the materials and the forms of the work. Each project consists of multiple pieces, in a collage media, grouped around the following themes and meanings: Joss Paper, in representation of Mediterranean symbols; Green Paper, in honor of poetry and alchemy; Stereo Paper, in offering of pagan gods; Date Paper, in praise of the encounters and Metro Paper, in celebration of re-use. I have been collaborating with Legambiente (League for the Environment) for eco-compatible installations in the Island of Elba, since 2012. |
“Mare Nostrum (Latin for “Our Sea”) was the ancient Roman name for the Mediterranean Sea. During my stay in (Re)Create, Castelnuovo Calcea, Piedmont, Italy, in the Summer of 2009, I discovered an old shovel and a bottle of 1985 Barbera that was too old to drink. From these two objects was born the permanent installation of Mare Nostrum. From the hill of Ca d’Ru, I observed a 360-degree landscape of identical rolling hills, working vineyards shaped by the hand of man, and the sea that only 5 million years ago covered it all. The shovel is a totem of all that work – the iron dressed in a collage of newspaper, a symbol of the culture. I let the poured wine evaporate in the sun. During the process, I used the remaining wine to imprint on paper plant maps of this place now disappeared. The eight cards in the series recall the four cardinal points and the names of the winds.”
- Riccardo Mazzei
- Riccardo Mazzei
Solo Exhibitions
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Group Exhibitions
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Riccardo Mazzei — (Re)Create residency. (n.d.). (Re)Create Residency. https://www.recreateresidency.org/riccardo-mazzei
