Ricardo Migliorisi
Ricardo Migliorisi, born in Asunción, Paraguay, on January 6, 1948 to Isolina Salsa Ferraris and Salvador Migliorisi Tumino, of Italian origin. Migliorisi was a Paraguayan painter, costume designer, scenery designer and architect. Migliorisi won national and international awards. Migliorisi showed his work in many countries including The United States of America and Europe.
Childhood and Youth
He did his elementary studies at the Dante Aliglieri School and later on, at San José School, in Asunción.His liking for the aesthetics and art were manifested at a young age and has made to mature the soul of this artist. His first artistic expressions came up when he was eighteen years old
When young, studied Plastic Arts in the Cira Moscarda Studio. In that studio many young people could give free hand to their creativity, expressed with inedited elements. The experience he lived there, gives him the impulse to come out as a transgressor in all his work.
Ricardo also studied engraving with the expert Livio Abramo, but basically he can be considered autodidactic.
Later on, he studied Architecture in the Universidad Nacional de Asunción.
In the following years of his formation as an artist he gained much experience in many Latin-American countries, working as a wardrobe and scenery designer.
In the beginning he used drawing and painting in most of his work, but later included different other types of elements to his creations.
In a short period of time, the young artist showed the world an innovator, psychedelic and delirious style in his work.
Trajectory
Ricardo Migliorisi appears in the Paraguayan artistic society in the mid ‘60s, a time marked by the urgent actualization and opening, by the emerging novelty in the field of Modernism, that invaded all the artistic societies in America and Europe.He has had numerous opportunities to show his work:
| Year | Individual expositions |
| 1974 | “Sobre Monstruos y Víctimas”. Museo de Zea, Medellín, Colombia |
| 1978/1992 | Arte-Sanos Gallery, Asunción, Paraguay |
| 1985 | “Pequeños Pizarrones”, Galería Fábrica, Asunción, Paraguay |
| 1986 | Retrospectiva “20 años de obra de R. Migliorisi”, Centro de Artes Visuales, Asunción, Paraguay |
| 1989 | “Birgitta Von Scharkoppen en el Jardín de las Delicias”, Centro Cultural Miraflores, Lima, Perú |
| 1990 | “Bañistas año 79 D.C.” Galería Arte-Sanos, Asunción, Paraguay “Los Últimos días de Pompeya”, La Galería, Lima, Perú |
| 1991 | “Los Últimos días de Pompeya”, Instituto Italo-Latinoamericano, Roma, Italia |
| 1992 | “La Carpilla Sixtina”, Galería Rond-Point, Paris, Francia |
| 1994 | Maison Tonet Gallery, Graz, Austria Art Collectors Miami, U.S.A. “Los Durmientes”, Centro Cultural Miraflores, Lima, Perú |
| 1995 | Recoleta Cultural Center, Buenos Aires, Argentina |
| 1996 | “La Culpa”. Galería Praxis, Lima, Perú Artesanos Art Galery. U.S.A. |
| 1998 | Praxis Gallery, Lima, Perú Muestra Antológica. Manzana de la Rivera. Asunción. Paraguay Exposición en el Museo del Barro a partir de la publicación de un libro de dibujos suyos “Trazos, trozos y laberintos” |
| 1999 | De La Matriz Gallery, Montevideo, Uruguay. |
| 2000 | Muestra “La vía dolorosa” en la Galería Phanta Rei, España |
| 2001 | Sample of drawings, Gallery Phanta Rei, España |
| 2002 | Praxis Gallery, Lima, Perú |
Also, collective expositions with contemporary artists:
| Year | Collective expositions |
| 1968 | Interamerican Biennial, Medellín, Colombia International Sample of the Graphics, Florence, Italy |
| 1976 | Today’s Art in Iberoamerica, Madrid, Spain |
| 1979 | Engraving Biennial, San Juan, Puerto Rico Drawing Biennial, Maldonado, Uruguay. |
| 1981 | São Paulo’s International Biennial, Brasil. |
| 1982 | Engraving Biennial, Noruega |
| 1986 | Biennial of Cali, Colombia; 1st Biennial of Cuenca, Ecuador. |
| 1988 | “Tres Artistas Paraguayos”, Galería Praxis, Lima, Perú “Dos Artistas Paraguayos”, Museo de Arte Comtemporáneo, Maldonado, Uruguay |
| 1989 | Special Guest in the Biennial of Cuenca, Ecuador |
| 1990 | “Latinarca 90”, Montreal, Canadá “Arte del Sur del Mundo”, Marsala, Italia “Paraguay Ra'angá”, Alcalá de Henares, Spain |
| 1991 | “Tres Jóvenes Maestros Latinoamericanos”, Galería Praxis, Lima, Perú “Pintores de hoy en América Latina”, Nagoya, Japón "Ana Eckell y Ricardo Migliorisi", Park Galiery, Boca Ratón, Florida, U.S.A; "Ocho Artistas Paraguayós", Museo de las Américas, Washington, U.S.A. |
| 1992 | Exposición del Stand Paraguayo de la Expo-Sevilla 92; "Al encuentro de los otros", Kassel, Alemania |
| 1993 | "Arte del Mercosur ", Buenos Aires, Argentina; "Artistas Paraguayos", Galería Centoira, Buenos Aires, Argentina. |
| 1994 | V Bienal de La Habana, Cuba; Dibujo Paraguayo, Corriente Alterna, Lima, Perú; Ludwid Forun, Aachen, Alemania. |
Awards
During his career he received many awards.| Year | Awards |
| 1972 | First Place. Posters C.I.M.E. United Nations |
| 1982 | First Place. “Benson & Hedges” Contest. Asunción. “The 12 of the Year”. Caracol Network. Asunción. |
| 1986 | Second Place. Biennial of Paper. Buenos Aires, Argentina. |
| 1992 | Best Artist of the Year. Radio Curupayty. Asunción. |
Museums and collections
His artistic production traveled numerous exposition rooms. Some of them are:- Contemporary Arts Museum. Madrid, Spain.
- Modern Arts Museum. National University of Bogot, Colombia.
- ”Gabriel Turbay” Library. Bucaramanga, Colombia.
- Museum of Zea. Medellín, Colombia.
- Coltejer Collection. Medellín, Colombia.
- Culture House. Cúcuta, Colombia.
- Paraguayan Museum of Contemporary Arts. Asunción, Paraguay.
- ”The Sistine Tent”. Visual Arts Center. Asunción, Paraguay.
- Contemporary Arts Museum. Maldonado, Uruguay.
- ”José Luís Cuevas” Museum. Mexico.
- Private collections in Spain, USA, Venezuela, Uruguay, Argentina, Mexico, Italy, Brazil, Peru, Sweden, Japan, Honduras, El Salvador, Colombia, France, Ecuador, Chile, Netherlands, Germany and Paraguay.
Style
His characters are considered none too realistic, and may represent popular Latin-American subjects, animals and classic mythology, opera, circus and cabaret characters, the television and socialite, all of them with crazy tendencies.
Migliorisi presents a strong scenic sense, binding his creations to theatrical spaces. In his characters there is the mystery of the masks and the shine of footlight. The way he uses the color is a remarkable characteristic, the contrast, transparencies and textures give live to mud or metal objects. Emerge imposing plaster figures, woods of feather, glass pearls and golden stones and caracoles.
His family
His family, of Italian descent, lives in Asunción. He has a sister: María Cristina Migliorisi de Galiano.Migliorisi was hospitalized in May 2019 under intensive therapy. He died on June 14, 2019 at the age of 71.