The Weird and Wonderful World of Ricky Zia

By Christein Aromando

CATSKILLS REGION — Ricky Zia’s delightfully colorful and quirky art was a standout on the tour showing work in multiple mediums from painting to decoupage, with a focus on colored pencil drawings and paper-mâché collectible folk art.

Zia draws his inspiration from holidays, birthday parties, the circus and anything fun and colorful. He’s been making art most of his life and has continued with the same themes throughout the last 30 years. A Virginia native and current Roxbury resident, Zia lived for many years near Coney Island, which influenced the carnival aspects of his art. Creepy clowns, hearts with faces, rainbow snakes and smoking dogs are all part of his playful body of work. He likes to take scenes from everyday walks of life and add his own campy spin.

When asked about the unique style of eyes and teeth seen throughout his work, Zia says, “I always had crooked teeth…so yeah, it’s always been an ongoing thing, something in the subconscious. I feel like I’m doing a self-portrait all the time because I’m the photo reference.” He uses photos of himself to model how he wants a piece laid out, so they all ultimately look like him in some capacity.

Zia recently had a fun piece in the Alter Ego Exhibit at The Pine Hill Community Center Gallery titled Barnyard Chucky at the Pizza Parlor, based on what he’s called himself over the years whenever he takes a bad photo or sees himself on a poorly lit Zoom call. A Barnyard Chucky doll made of paper-mâché sits at a table next to a dog, sitting human-style donning a gold chain, eating pizza in an old-fashion pizza parlor, the kind that Zia has always wanted to open.

Zia was excited to talk to people about his art this past weekend and had a great turnout. Steven Tedaldi, Ricky’s longtime partner and agent said, ‘This weekend was beyond words, maybe magical. I cannot believe the response we’ve had in Roxbury. We sold 14 pieces”, far exceeding their expectations. “Everyone loved seeing the new fresh art and their facial expressions when they walked in looked like they walked into Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory!”

You can see Ricky Zia’s work in the upcoming Phoenicia Art Festival at the Varga Gallery, August 1st-31st. To learn more about Zia’s Art, follow him on Instagram @rickyzia_art.