Clio Art Fair Spotlight: A review by Ricky Borgia

Artist Ricky Borgia in his studio

Rick Borgia: Where Color Becomes Thought

Rick Borgia’s work resists easy categorization, and that may be its most defining strength. Across painting, figure-based imagery, abstraction, and atmospheric color fields, his practice feels less like a single style than a living conversation between memory, intuition, and transformation. Rather than treating color as decoration, Borgia uses it as a language — one that carries emotional weight, spiritual resonance, and a strong sense of internal motion.

What distinguishes his art is the tension he sustains between control and drift. In some works, geometric forms and circular structures create a sense of balance and order; in others, layered pigment and fluid movement suggest weather, memory, or psychic sensing systems. Even when the imagery turns figurative, the figures do not settle into mere portraiture. They feel symbolic, suspended between identity and atmosphere, as if they are part of a larger dream logic.

There is also a striking musicality in the way Borgia builds a composition. His surfaces often pulse with rhythm: recurring shapes, repeated color accents, and visual echoes that move the eye across the canvas the way a phrase moves through a song. That sensibility reflects a broader practice shaped by sound, installation, and conceptual thinking — a multidisciplinary approach that gives his paintings a sense of expansion beyond the frame.

At their best, Borgia’s works feel like meditations on presence itself: on how form emerges, dissolves, and returns; on how color can hold memory; on how abstraction can still carry the trace of lived experience. In an art world that often rewards instant recognition, his work offers something more sustaining — a distinctive voice that unfolds over time.

Ricky Borgia exhibited his work in the past at the 23rd edition of Clio Art Fair, held from May 14-17, 2026. Here is a short interview with the artist and a review of his experience at the fair.

Ricky, can you please describe your art in four words?

Genuine, perceptive, conceptual, kinesis.

What inspires your art?

Jan Van Eyck

How would you describe your experience at Clio Art Fair?

I had such a great time! The entire week that I spent in Manhattan was filled with sweet synchronicities and especially kind, beautiful people. It was great to see and feel the energy of the collective artists at Alessandro Berni Gallery on 25th Street. Just a true mix of what it means to be human in this supposedly digital age. The range of styles, paintings, constructions, photography, sculptures, was truly well curated, and so much interest was generated by the feng shui of the exhibition.

Ricky Borgia, Harmonic Convergence: Next, 2025

Acrylic, oil, enamel on canvas, 36 x 36 x 1.5 in Showcased at Clio Art Fair's 23rd Edition, May 14-17, 2026