PAINTING
ROBERT RICOV
 
DETAILS
Oil on canvas
61 x 76 cm
2024
 
DESCRIPTION
A table has been set. A delectable assortment of cheeses, fruits, mortadella, and all manner of sweet meats. A feast for the eyes as well as the mouth, enriched upon a surface of plush blue and white fabrics. But alas, it was not to be. The guests—a cast of society’s who’s who—never did manage to attend. Their regrets were sent, with excuses of some such or the other. How quickly rumours travel in this city! How quickly one loses one’s good reputation for its opposite replacement! The master of the house now sits at the table alone, reading the letters of regret, the excuses. In a sudden rage he pulls at the table cloth, casting the feast upon the floor before storming out of the room. But the goods do not go to waste. Indeed, the spirits of the house have found an excuse to gather, to make merry, make mischief, or make melancholy, or make as they wish. It matters not, for the wine at last flows, and they can at last compare tragedies together at the table of torment. The master of the house is a hunter, and the ghosts of a room full of taxidermy trophies descend upon the feast. A monkey, syringe in hand, poison loaded, injects it into a hairless cat. It laments with a hairless mouse. They should be enemies, but what they have in common is more than skin deep. The cherub is angry, for he does not like to see food wasted.
 
BIOGRAPHY
Robert Ricov b. 1973 Sydney, Australia BA 1994, College of Visual Arts, Sydney Robert Ricov has been living, working, and exhibiting in Croatia since he moved there in 2022.
His oil paintings, in a style he refers to as “surreal maximalist realism,” use symbolism to represent themes such as the loss of innocence, betrayal, and hope. In October of 2023, Robert traveled to the island of Menorca, Spain, where Guillermo Lorca and Martin Wittfooth mentored him. It wasn’t until a few months after that he realized how profoundly this experience affected the direction of his work.