Today we’d like to introduce you to Rita Vicari.
Hi Rita, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
I was born and raised in Lipetsk, Russia. Although my childhood was joyous and filled with wonderful memories, me and my sisters faced the reality of growing up during the 1990s, in a post-soviet environment. When I left my home country in 2015, I had successfully built a career as a professional dancer and received a degree in psychology. For the next three years, I explored Asian culture, specifically South Korea, then made my way to the United States, New Jersey. In 2019, I finally found my way to Texas and now live with my family in Allen, Collin County, just minutes from Dallas, TX.
I began painting at a very early age and learned to recognize the simplicities and complexities in most everything that crossed my path. I quickly understood that I had developed many creative outlets – writing, poetry, dance choreography, but eventually found that all these paths lead back to painting.
I am currently building my art business and refining my art career. I paint daily and am actively perfecting my skills as an internationally collected professional artist. I am also teaching as an art coach for an online Mastery Program at Milan Art Institute. I dream of traveling the world, connecting with all walks of life, and impacting people through my art as I enjoy life with my husband, our son, and two pets.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The most difficult part was moving all the time from one place to another and not having people around to work on ideas and projects and just have a general support that friends and like-minded people can give. I always had a support from my family and my husband but I was always a team player and being an artist can be a very lonely job. When I moved out of Russia, I hardly spoke English and that was the first and biggest struggle to talk about my art and connect with people. Living in Asia, in general, was not easy. Galleries only except artists with a lot of art degrees and inspired self-taught artists do not have a big value there. Moving to the United States changed a lot in that case. My art career really took off after I took a yearlong Mastery Program and having opportunities all around me really made me feel like I am on a right path.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a mixed media artist and have worked hard on finding my art process and giving my artworks that look that I wanted them to have. I specialize on women portraits surrounded by flowers and nature. I like to create abstract backgrounds using alcohol inks and finish everything with oil paint. My art is dreamy and I want to inspire people to dream and see more magic happening in our life. All of my paintings have a lot of symbolism. Blooming flowers mean abundance as well as it highlights the state of mind and soul when we are the best versions of ourselves. I have been in situations in my life when I was on the top of my physical, intellectual and creative abilities. And also, I felt what it is like to be shadow of your own self and not feel that I am fulfilling my destiny. But I never stopped looking for opportunities and practiced patience and appreciation of little things in life. My art is very colorful. I do not enjoy muted colors because again, color for me is a symbol to live to your full potential and make your life as vivid and memorable as possible. I enjoy mark-making in my process as well because I believe every person should leave their mark on the world and change it for the better.
The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
Definitely. I have noticed a big shift in people’s minds. People were forced to take a pause in their lives and made them realize how long they have been running in a wrong direction. Or that they were constantly running and needed to stop and notice what is around them. So, I have noticed how people took that pause and remembered for a second that they had dreams they abandoned and decided to finally pursue them. As for art, people started buying and collecting more art since they realized how it helps their soul and their personal aesthetic.
Contact Info:
- Email: rita@ri-inc.gallery
- Website: www.ri-inc.gallery
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ri.inc/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ri.inc.art
