Riccardo Vicentini

The pictorial practice of Riccardo Vicentini centers on the representation of landscape at the intersection of traditional cartographic conventions and perceptual processes. The natural environment constitutes a primary field of inquiry, which the artist explores through both painting and walking as aesthetic practice.

For Lines, Loops, Leaks, Vicentini has developed a new body of work that reflects on the relationship between space and temporality. The diptych Alto nel cielo, profondo nella Terra (‘High in the Sky, Deep in the Earth’) examines the ways in which human beings have historically navigated and traversed space by establishing networks of spatial reference points, reading both the sky and the surrounding landscape. A dialogue emerges between the celestial vault and the earth, wherein the horizon – understood as a shifting boundary separating and connecting these two realms – functions as a fundamental device for orientation and for constructing meaning within inhabited space.

Conversely, Paesaggio terrestre (‘Earthly Landscape’) presents a partial portrait of the Earth seen from above, devoid of the arbitrary divisions imposed by human systems of governance and exploitation. The dimly lit globe invites a reconsideration of the notion of globality, prompting us to imagine ourselves as passengers aboard a shared vessel moving through space. Stripped of its historical toponymy, the Earth reveals itself as an expansive continuum in which the distinction between nature and culture appears far more porous than commonly assumed.