Bradley Rizza is a British contemporary artist based in London. His kaleidoscopic paintings explore humanities psychological intricacies, exploring and communicating their emotions from soul to skin. His portrait style works portray a myriad of emotions, from love and anger to despair and contemplation. Passionate about health and mental wellbeing, the works bare all, affording the onlooker an insight into a subject’s character. He favours sit down sessions prior to painting to form a connection, allowing ample time for that spark, passion or vulnerability to resonate and be conveyed to canvas.
Besotted by the beauty of nature from his Scottish and Italian roots, influences of ones environment are evident in the works. Fabulous red flowers from “You can call me Rose” and the enticing backdrop accompaniment to the subject in “Reflection from opalescent skies”. Marbled purple representations from Lewisian Gneiss are seen in “Earth; a purple blaze”, inspired from the study of geology in former years.
Exploring societies expectation on conformity, Bradley Rizza’s work has been known to question gender, race and focus on mental health. In each portrait the subjects appear without the usual indicators of psychical being. In a deliberate attempt for the viewer to question race, colour is used as an expression of feeling rather than that of the subjects skin.
The varying viscosity and colour palettes communicate a visceral feeling. Impasto oil paint, or impatiently applied acrylic spray paints are used to capture the fragility of the human psyche.