Richard di Rosa

The work

Cactus jaune (Yellow Cactus)
2005
Polyester
110 x 45 x 35 cm

The yellow cactus, a polyester piece, belongs more to the world of comics or cartoons than to everyday life, in complete harmony with his career, which has been closely linked to that of his brother Hervé. The figurative freedom that characterises his career underlines his conviction that art should be modest, entirely unpretentious, and part of the lives of ordinary people.

The artist

(Sète, France, 1963)

Born in Sète, France, in 1963, he lives and works in Paris. Richard, known as Buddy, di Rosa studied piano and drums at the Conservatoire de Sète and, together with Robert Combas and Ketty Brindel, created the group Les Démodés (The Outdated). In 1982, he moved to Paris to reunite with his brother, the painter Hervé di Rosa, and gave volume to the characters he had created. At that time, Buddy was part of the Figuration Libre movement, and his first exhibition took place in 1982.
In 1986, he and Hervé founded Dirosarl, a company that produced objects “created for everyday life,” that is, applied art. From 1990 onwards, they sold them in their Parisian gallery-shop “L’Art Modeste,” and later exhibited them at the Musée international de l’Art Modeste (MIAM), which they founded in Sète in 2000.
In his early days, Buddy di Rosa created installations with his brother. They created the Renés, characters who became the heroes of a comic strip. Within the framework of Modest Art, he worked with shells, created colored metal vases, a bestiary, small characters, and pieces of furniture. Later, he invented object machines, strange beings with prominent mouths and eyes (Dodo bronze, 2007). It is important to note that the word dodó in French refers to a stuffed animal that helps young children sleep, except that this dodó is made of bronze.
He creates what he considers to be Arte Modesto, but in his opinion, it is “true art, beautiful, simply for the people, for the villages. Art for everyone, sensations that are almost priceless but that speak of things that do have value.”