Cindy Rizza is a classically trained, representational oil painter who received her BFA from the New Hampshire Institute of Art. Her iconic representations of familiar domestic subjects summon conflicting feelings of comfort and insecurity, shelter and confinement, and love and loss.
She is a recipient of numerous awards, including the Vermont Studio Center Artist Grant, Second Prize at the 9th Annual Lore Degenstein National Figurative Drawing and Painting Competition at Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, PA, and the Best of Show Prize at the Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art Annual Juried National Exhibition, in Wausau, WI.
Her work is represented at George Billis Gallery in New York, NY and Galerie Mokum in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Cindy grew up in Massachusetts and Maine during her early years, and has remained in New England now living and working in Southern New Hampshire.
“My work delicately renders everyday domestic objects we use to create a sense of security- their utilitarian and decorative functions act to create a sanctuary. The formal presentations of my subjects may lead to conflicting feelings of comfort and insecurity, shelter and confinement, and love and loss. It may lead to questions about whether these material comforts keep us safe or more vulnerable. My painting process of intimate examination of my subjects in strong light sources also echoes attachments to material things despite the imminent passage of time.
My recent works juxtapose solitary heirloom domestic objects with the untamed New Hampshire landscape. The contradiction of manmade forms created for comfort against something wild, primitive, and unmanageable reminds us of greater forces at work than our palliative attempts at control. Ultimately, we are all vulnerable to worldly forces existing outside our nests.”
