As a teenager, he got rescued by the hard-core punk scene from an apparently bourgeois, middle-class upbringing. He started meeting people from different walks of life and got into more interesting circles, like skateparks and snowboard spots.
In those years his father, an atheist communist engineer became a practising Hare Krishna. Still underage at that time, Nicola discovers the wonders of English magazine publishing. One day he finds himself looking at The Face and had a glimpse of what he would like to become as an adult. On the front cover the singer of Prodigy was posing with a hideous grimace on his face: it’s shocking, some photographers not only portray people, but they help them bringing terrible truths up to light.
During the years studying photography he draws closer to Contemporary Art. He shows some of his first works in several exhibitions and he meets his future business partner Ivan. Together they founded Boiler Magazine, first online and then on paper. Nicola was Art Director with Macs Iotti. Everything run smoothly for three or four years until perhaps due to genetic causes, a sudden urge for a mystical experience struck him. Nicola decided to leave and meditate at a Buddhist monastery in Ceylon and he then arrived in India at the Osho commune, where he stayed much longer than expected.
Coming back in Italy to work as a photographer needed a new sparkle, which he found in experimentation. Fashion, portraiture and sport culture all blend in into the mix that defines the unique style of his images, all containing the same dose of cheekiness, elegancy, irony and wildness.
Open to collaborating with other artists who share the same eclectic vision, he yielded into his passion for filming. He recently started to work as DOP on music videos and short-films and as Director on small experimental projects.
He has never stopped having fun.
Education & Workshops
2010
Cinematography Workshop with Luca Bigazzi
2000
Three Year Course in Photography at Fondazione Studio Marangoni, Florence
Exchange Student Program, Photography MA, London College of Printing
Workshops with Franco Vaccari and Daniel Meadows
1999
Workshops with Martin Parr, Gilbert Fastenaekens, Antonio Biasiucci
1998
Workshop with Nick Waplington
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2004
“Born Again” Nicola Ricci Contemporary Art Gallery, Pietrasanta. Curated by Fabiola Naldi
2002
“Steal and Burn”, Studio Ercolani, Bologna. Curated by Chiara Leoni
2000
“Elective Affinities”, BIG Torino, Turin. Curated by Nicoletta Leonardi
Selected Group Exhibitions
2006
“Surf Trip, a Visual Novel”, Galleria Nicola Ricci at Miart. With an essay by Ivanmaria Vele
2005
“Padiglione Italia Out Of Biennale”, Trevi Flash Art Museum. Curated by Chiara Leoni
2003
“Hovering”, Peres Projects, Los Angeles. Curated by Daniele Balice
2002
“2 in uno”, Galica Gallery, Milan. Curated by Gigliola Foschi
“Viasatellite”, Mercati Traianei, Rome, curated by Alessandra Galletta
2001
“Archivi, Memorie ed Accumulazioni”, Centre Culturel Français, Turin. Curated by a.titolo
2000
“Les Trahisons du modèle”, Chapelle du Rham, Luxembourg. Curated by Paul di Felice
1999
“Multiple Vision”, taranto Gallery, New York. Curated by Nicoletta Leonardi
“Shift”, Studio Ercolani, Bologna. Curated by Chiara Leoni
“Multiple Vision”, Clone Media Gallery, London. Curated by Nicoletta Leonardi
1998
Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie, Arles