David Ricci

I was born and still live in the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts in the U.S.
Completely self-taught, I began my career working in black-and-white but quickly abandoned that for color which has been my medium for the past 3 decades. Visit my website at for more information and to see more images.

In the 1980s I became very interested in the work of several of the New Color photographers, in particular Stephen Shore and William Eggleston who developed more sophisticated compositional strategies and heralded the acceptance of straight color photography as fine art. At the same time, I pursued an extensive study of 20th century painting, and have been particularly influenced by the abstract expressionists such as Pollock and de Kooning as well as Photorealist painters, particularly the work of Richard Estes.

Starting in the late 80s, I developed a large body of work photographing at recreational sites throughout America - amusement parks, state fairs, Las Vegas. With this work, which was widely exhibited throughout the Northeast U.S., I attempted to reveal the artificial, surreal character of these environments while using an underlying geometric structure to create visually complex images. As the work progress...