Tonight at the Gallery «Zurab» a personal exhibition of Italian artist Riccardo Likaty MARE NOSTRUM

This evening at the Gallery «Zurab» a personal exhibition of Italian artist Riccardo Likaty MARE NOSTRUM. In his work embodies the traditional understanding of the rich culture of the Mediterranean sun: loud colors and graphic expressiveness together with abstract symbolic forms, reminiscent of written language of ancient civilizations. In the works of Riccardo Likaty echoes of the ancient and Byzantine art are intertwined with ornamental motifs of the Nordic countries. At the same time, addressing the legacy of the past, the artist keeps pace with the times: his paintings are in the spirit of abstract expressionism, won the Western art scene in the postwar years.

Riccardo Likata was born in Turin on December 20, 1929. Soon his family moved to Rome, where lived until 1945, then settled in Venice. In 1957, Likata went to study fine art in Paris. From 1961 to 1995 taught at the Ecole Nationale de Paris, and in 1969 became a professor at the Sorbonne. Painting, as well as engravings, mosaics, sculpture, stage design. His first solo exhibition was held in Venice in 1951 and since then has been more than 300 personal exhibitions in 35 countries. Likata has participated in the Venice Biennale, the Paris Salon and other major international festival of contemporary art.

Riccardo Likata was among 25 artists selected by an international expert committee for the implementation of large-scale project «Madonna in Contemporary Art». This exhibition was held in the Roman Pantheon, and in the European Parliament in Brussels in 2003 and was timed to coincide with the 25-year anniversary of pontificate of John Paul II.

Works Riccardo Likaty stored in museums of modern art of Florence, Milan, Venice, Paris, New York, Chicago, Vienna, as well as in private collections around the world. Currently the artist lives and works in Paris and Venice.

The exhibition is open from 23 September until 19 October 2008 at the Moscow Museum of Modern Art (Tverskoy Boulevard, 9, Gallery «Zurab »).

Source: a press release the Moscow Museum of Modern Art