Ric was born in Marseilles (France) in March 1948. After two years of study in Philosophy (1966-68) at the University of Aix-en-Provence (France), Ric traveled throughout the European continent. He also went twice to India overland, mostly for the interest of the trip itself.

He wrote numerous newspaper articles, as well as two stage plays performed at the Festival d'Avignon (F). In 1978, he created his first drawing 'Salvador DALI, doubly reversible portrait,' starting from a tiny photograph of the Master.

He continued his artistic pursuits learning classical techniques of oil painting through independent study. As he studied the old masters' works, he began to study the psychology of Freud and Jung. Ric also delved into the esoteric traditions and began a long immersion into speculative alchemy and oriental philosophy.

With very few financial means, Ric produced not only quality work but also quantity: medium and large size paintings, triptych, such as the astonishing "Les Jardins de la Mémoire" ('The Gardens of Memory'), conceived from 1979 to 1983, incontestably his closest homage to H. Bosch, the famous Dutch painter. Among other works, he conceived his own Tarot cards, based on his studies of alchemy. He painted the 21 major arcane with oil on canvas. He's actually completing the whole series of Tarot cards, creating them on computer.

For eight years, he painted without showing his work, lived in the countryside in the south of France, leading a simple way of life that allowed him to dedicate most of his time to painting.

Most of Ric's paintings have been digitally treated and can be reproduced in any size and on any kind of medium.

================= Statement

Now and then, Richard Méric's goal is to track the greatest mystery of the created world: the double nature of all things. His main concern is to send clear and pleasant messages for the soul, bring positive feelings to his human fellows’. So, one should not be astonished to find the traces of this search in the majority of his pictures, in which the Masculine and the Feminine figures are reconciled or clashed, the top and bottom, the inside and the outside merge, the heat and the cold manages to be harmonized despite the violence of the primary colours which he uses, at the pure state. If one adds to that a very marked leaning for wild nature and an unquestionable misanthropy, one will understand that his public life and his celebrity were reduced to their simpler expression.

But be sure that Richard Méric is communicating with us, with our subconscious maybe too. He named his painting style "L'Image Parole" in French: "The Talkative Picture"... difficult to translate precisely. Richard Méric resumes it to a modern Painting using a classical technique, inspired by Breuguel, H.Bosch, M.C Escher and S. Dalí.

Artist Highlights

• Lives In:    France
• ArtWanted.com Gallery:    Art/Drawing Misc.