Ugo Riva

Ugo Riva was born on August 9th, 1951 in Bergamo. One of the acknowledged masters of the Italian 900’s, Giacomo Manzù, in the same city formed his genius. Like Manzù, Ugo Riva is sensitive and attentive to the grace of classical proportions, and he often chooses woman and religious subjects as his models. He sees classics as a living source from which to draw life-giving feelings an emotions. Ugo Riva’s sculpture is imbued with a devotion towards the Renaissance quest of perfection. His works pay particular attention to the great Renaissance artist Piero della Francesca and to the bond between mother and child, a recurring theme in Riva’s work. Women are brought to life in all possible situations: career women, sisters, lovers, mothers. They all have a profound influence on the artist. Such women are sometimes placed on a throne, sometimes they are casually sitting, and sometimes they are almost surprised in their precious shrines Riva has considerably thinned in his works the references to mythology and literature of the classical world. This coincidence in time becomes the object of his interest and, in “telling” his stories, his attention is always focused on the feelings and impulses that draw the outline of a fully lived human life. This is why he represents love in its myriad of dimensions: sensuality, motherhood, the agonizing loneliness of the individual. With his subjects Riva tries to record the climate of unrest and conflict in which modern man lives, suspended between the assertion of himself and the feeling of death. Riva hides behind the apparent harmony of his classical approach, the torments and tensions of today. PERSONAL EXHIBITIONS 1978 Galleria l’Antenna, Bergamo 1982 Volkuniversiteit (drawings), Rotterdam 1985 Galerie Unterburg, Regesberg – Zurig 1989 Galleria Ada Zunino, Milan 1993 Galleria Farsetti, Cortina Galerie Zur Krone, Batterdinken, Swizerland 1995 Teatro Sociale, Bergamo 1996 Scuola dei Tiraoro e Battioro, Venice Galleria Il Cenacolo, Piacenza 1997 Fortezza di San Leo, Pesaro-Urbino 1998/99 “Piero e dintorni”, Palazzo Pretorio, Sansepolcro Capricorno Gallery, Capri 2000 Ugo Riva, Galleria Bonaparte, Milan Capricorno Gallery, Capri 2002 Park Ryu Sook Gallery , Seoul – Corea 2004 Capricorno Gallery, Washington DC 2005 “Ugo Riva”, Galérie Vallois Sculptures, Paris 2008 “Ugo Riva. Un artista contemporaneo e la classicità” – Spazio Viterbi, Palazzo della Provincia, Bergamo. “Convivio Artistico: Ugo Riva”, Caffè del Tasso, Bergamo “Ugo Riva – Il codice del corpo”, Next Art Gallery, Arezzo, curated by Fabio Migliorati Capricorno Gallery, Capri COLLECTIVE EXHIBITIONS 1976 II Biennale della Scultura R.A.S.E., Spalti Sant’Agostino, Bergamo Expo, Bari 1980 Arte 11, Basel 1986 Scultura Italiana del 900 – Galleria Berman, Turin 1988 Concorso per un monumento a Giovanni XXIII – Duomo, Bergamo (rewarded finalist) Nove scultori nuove sculture, Galleria Ada Zunino, Milan 1989 IX Biennale Internazionale Dantesca, Ravenna (Golden medal) 1991 Mostra Internazionale di Scultura, Legnano 1992 Arte Fiera Bologna, Galleria Bonaparte Expo Arte Rome, Galleria Bonaparte 1993 Palazzo della Permanente, Milan 1994 “Scultura del Novecento, Berman 2 Scultura, Turin “Femmes” – Zur Krone Galerie, Batterkiden 1995 Arte Fiera 1995, Bologna “Le ragioni della libertà – Arte, Poesia e Musica a 50 anni dalla Liberazione”, curated by Mario De Micheli – Palazzo della Triennale, Milan 2000 “Figurazione a Milano dal secondo dopoguerra ad oggi”, La Posteria, Milan IX Biennale di Scultura, San Gabriele del Gran Sasso – Rome 2001 “2000 volte 2000 – la Figurazione in Europa”, Villa Ponti, Arona, curators Manuela Bosco and Carlo Occhipinti 2003 “Giovanni Testori – un ritratto”, Leone da Perego Palace, Legnano, curated by Flavio Arensi 2005 “Altre figurazioni”, Galleria Agorarte, Milan “Quadrato per la ricerca”, GAMEC, Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Bergamo 2006 “Figurae”, Factory Fine Art, Modena, curated by Alberto Agazzani 2007 “Le donne di Guttuso e di Riva”, Grand Hotel, Rimini, curated by Galleria Luigi Franceschini Mercante d’Arte 2008 “Estetika. Forma & Segno. Da Renoir a De Chirico”, Villa Ponti – Fondazione Art Museo, Arona (NO), curated by Carlo Occhipinti. 2009 “La mano dell’architetto”, Milan, Triennale Bovisa, Villa Necchi Campiglio e Abitare Segesta, curated by Matteo Schubert e Francesca Serrazanetti. “Open 12. Esposizione Internazionale di sculture e installazioni”, Venezia, Isola di San Servolo, curated by Paolo De Grandis and Carlotta Scarpa.