Riccardo Albiero is an Italian painter born in Chioggia in 1996. He completed his BA in Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna in 2018, followed by an MA in Visual Arts at the same institution in 2021. He currently lives and works between Chioggia and Venice.
Albiero’s research develops through a personal form of metaphysics, nourished by his interests and by the imagery that draws his attention. His work is a search for inner truth, explored through an introspective vision in which magic and spirituality are the main protagonists.
His preferred medium is egg tempera: quick drying times and countless overlapping layers produce opaque transparencies, where each colour merges subtly with the one beneath and contours remain sharp and defined. It is a technique that allows him to unite sensory perception with the mental dimension of painting.
This duality is especially evident in his portraits, which aim to present an idea of virility that is simultaneously sensual and ethereal. The face — with its delicate features, pale skin, and red hair — becomes a spiritual experience as much as a physical image.
Plants and animals in his works are rich in symbolic meaning. The greyhound, a hunting dog searching for a prey that never appears, embodies tension, desire, and the urge to reach something just beyond the visible. The thistle plants, sprouting sharp and fierce from dark earth and stretching toward the sky, symbolize struggle and resilience.
