MONICA LEE RICH
b. 1964 Vicenza, Italy

Throughout Monica's body of work, she explores the sensuality of nature. Her botanicals take on a female likeness and seem to exploit intimate drama. Drawing inspiration from art history, she borrows from the passionate theatre of Baroque art, marrying it with the light and color explorations of the Impressionists. In this, she forges an abstract visual language of her own that questions our human desire in contrast with the inherent mystery of the natural world.

"Nature knows exactly what it is meant to do. It has a life cycle that is untamed and sensual. It is not in conflict with itself. I approach my work from a romantic perspective.

I am constantly trying to capture the contrast between exuberant moments and intimate ones to express the timeless mysteries of romance, spirituality, and human nature. I am seeking a way to create room and space to express the timeless mysteries that are under constant threat in the digital age.

Within my creative process, whether the medium is oil, acrylic, or watercolor, the natural world takes on feminine and masculine personas as I forge a new painting language that merges the spiritual and the physical. My goal is to capture a thin space, the space in between spaces, where there is a sense of wonder that plays out as a progression, a movement, into a type of courtship, almost a dance, that will lure the viewer in and invite them to exist in this same beautiful, enigmatic space." -MLR

CV upon request