Riccardo Licata (1929-2014) - Adeona

Born in Turin on December 20, 1929. After a brief Parisian interlude, his family moved to Rome where he lived from 1935 to 1945.
In 1946 Licata moved with his mother to Venice.
Architect Antonio Salvatori introduced him to the artistic culture of the Bauhaus, while the painter Romualdo Scarpa trained him in mosaic art in an experience that would prove decisive for his future.
He attended concerts regularly at La Fenice and the Festival of Contemporary Music of the Venice Biennale. Together with painters Ennio Finzi, Tancredi, Bruno Blenner and the sculptor Giorgio Zennaro, he formed in 1949 a group of young artists with an abstract tendency.
His "graphic-pictorial" language begins to emerge, inspired by music.
He is present at the Venice Biennale of 1952 with a large mosaic.
From 1957 he lives in Paris (with frequent and regular work stays also in Venice).
In 1962 the School of Mosaic is integrated into the Academy of Fine Arts of Paris, where Licata is still a lecturer.
In 1963 he wins the Michetti Prize and in 1975 the First Prize at the Forlì Graphic Arts Review. Licata subsequently participated in the editions of the Venice Biennale of 1964, 1970 and 1972, in the Rome Quadriennale, in the Biennales of Paris, Alexandria in Egypt, São Paulo in Brazil, and in the most important international graphic arts biennials.