Olivia Ricciardelli
2026

My sustained investigation is focused on how relationships between people and our inner selves can be shown by removing a subject from its background and allowing the viewer to fill in the negative space themselves. Some guiding questions have been: How do relationships influence individual identity and self perception? How can I represent emotional connections between figures? How does perspective change the way an emotion can be preserved? But my overarching question is: How can I be able to connect and portray one's emotion while also showing connections with other figures and the space around them? My goal is to create works of art that illuminate this question. All of my pieces are from reference pictures I have taken myself. I have realized that a picture gets taken to capture a special moment yet often those images get lost in our camera roll. Through art I am able to produce these images of my friends and I to last forever. My art consists of two mediums, etching and painting specifically with gauche. Etching is able to show the harsh reality of life while painting with gauche is able to show the smooth and continuous flow of life. Overall I was compelled to work with images of my friends and I to show the support we feel from each other as well as all the emotions that come with it.