‘For me, painting is a love affair with colour’ Bryan Ricci

 

Bryan Ricci’s gorgeous paintings are a perfect pairing with Gold Coast interior style and the luxury coastal design vibe. Tove Langridge from TWFINEART sat down with Bryan Ricci recently to discuss his work.

 

Luscious brush strokes of dense colour are a trademark of Bryan’s paintings

 

One of the many things that I love about your work is your obvious passion for the painted mark. I see a heavy influence in the techniques of the old masters. Can you describe a little about how your interest in paint and painting came to be? Tove Langridge

Bryan Ricci: I’ve been painting for as long as I can remember. It began in grade school, where an inspiring art teacher first nurtured my passion. A visit to a local museum, where I encountered the works of Turner, Homer, Renoir, and Monet, left an indelible impression on me. Surrounded by the natural beauty of the Hudson River Valley, I began to understand color not just as pigment, but as emotion, atmosphere, and memory.

The moment that truly changed me came in high school, standing in front of a Rubens at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. I was overwhelmed—not just by the scale or skill, but by the sheer power of paint to move the spirit.

At university, I studied the techniques of the old masters, grounding myself in their discipline while always seeking ways to push the medium further. Over time, it felt inevitable to begin making my own paint from raw pigments. It became a way of staying intimately connected to the process, to the material, and to the natural world that has always inspired me.

For me, painting is a love affair with color—a dialogue with the landscape, with light, and with history. Each brushstroke is both an exploration and a return home.

 

Your command of paint and colour is really masterful. Your colour fields are so richly dense and alluring. How would you describe the role of colour in your work? Tove Langridge

Bryan Ricci: I’m drawn to the tension and harmony between gestural and geometric abstraction—a visual dialogue between spontaneity and structure. In both art and life, I’ve found that opposites often reveal themselves as complementary forces. Color has remained at the heart of my practice throughout my 25-year career, a thread woven from diverse influences: the lush palette of the natural world I grew up in, the saturated hues of 1980s television, and the vibrant blooms my mother tended in the garden surrounding our home.

From her, I inherited a love for color—intuitive, emotive, and alive. From my father, a math and science teacher and meticulous finish carpenter, I absorbed a deep respect for precision, balance, and craft. My work lives in the space between these inherited sensibilities—where the organic meets the calculated, where expressive color finds order within abstraction.

 

 

Bryan’s studio in California

 

You often describe your works as abstract landscapes. What is it about the landscape that interests you? Tove Langridge

Bryan Ricci: Landscape was my first love in painting—the earliest subject that truly captivated me, both in the act of making and in looking. As a child, I would paint the familiar scenes around my home, as well as the idyllic vistas found in the pages of Country magazines gifted by my grandparents. There is something about the landscape—its openness, its mystery—that continues to ignite my imagination like nothing else.

What fascinates me is how landscapes are never fixed; they live differently in each viewer’s mind. A single scene can evoke countless memories, emotions, or dreams. That shared yet deeply personal experience keeps me returning to the genre. Over time, my landscapes have become more abstract—less about place and more about the feeling of place. These days, I find myself painting from vague, half-remembered impressions—fragments of past moments that blur the line between memory and invention.

I believe I could spend a lifetime exploring this terrain. In many ways, I already am.

 

 

Collage has always played a role in your paintings, and more recently the collage elements have become circular, almost celestial. Do these forms have any symbolism for you? Tove Langridge

BR: Collage, impasto, and the physical presence of materials are essential to my work. I’m drawn to the tactile, sculptural qualities of paint—its ability to assert itself as both image and object. This is one of the reasons I make my own paint from raw pigments. It allows for a greater sensitivity to surface and viscosity, and lets me push the material beyond the constraints of store-bought formulas. The process becomes a form of exploration—an alchemy of control and unpredictability.

The physicality of the work is not just about process; it’s about presence. I make paintings that insist on being experienced in person. When viewed through a screen, so much of the depth, texture, and nuance is lost—flattened into image alone. Art remains one of the few mediums where direct, unmediated experience matters deeply. I want the viewer to stand in front of the work, to feel it, to move with it.

The collage elements, particularly the recurring spheres, are often read as celestial or cosmic. While that isn’t my explicit intent, I welcome those interpretations. It’s human nature to seek meaning—to attach stories or symbols to unfamiliar forms. I believe art should offer multiple points of entry. It shouldn’t alienate the uninitiated or require a specialized vocabulary. Instead, it should invite curiosity, interpretation, and connection.

 

For more information about Bryan’s work, contact Tove Langridge at TWFINEART via www.twfineart.com