James Rizzi

James Rizzi

JAMES RIZZI 1950 - 2011

In 2009, at the invitation of VisibleWall, James Rizzi reflected on the fall of the Berlin Wall and, to the delight of collectors worldwide, created a strictly limited special edition – 1,989 porcelain miniatures of the Wall of Freedom, crafted from Rosenthal porcelain – entitled IN THE SPIRIT OF PEACE.

Like all miniatures, these feature an individual base stamp: James Rizzi © 2009 from the KINGS OF FREEDOM limited edition 2009

The painter, graphic artist and sculptor James Rizzi was born in 1950 in the New York borough of Brooklyn, where he also spent his entire childhood. Rizzi initially attended business school at the University of Florida in Gainesville. Gradually, however, he turned his attention to art and finally graduated in 1974 with a degree in painting, graphic art and sculpture.

In the early years following his university education, Rizzi sold his prints and paintings on the streets of New York (next to the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum). In 1977, James Rizzi was invited to present some of his works in the group exhibition ‘Thirty Years of American Printmaking’ at the Brooklyn Museum, in which Andy Warhol, Jim Dine and Roy Lichtenstein also took part. Since then, he has taken part in countless solo and group exhibitions and enjoyed success all over the world.

As well as everyday items such as T-shirts, hats and ties, James Rizzi has also carried out numerous projects. For instance, Volkswagen commissioned the artist to mark the relaunch of the ‘Beetle’, while Brockhaus Publishers enlisted him for their encyclopaedia. To mark the 40th anniversary of the Condor airline, Rizzi adorned a Boeing 757 with an exotic livery (‘Rizzi-Bird’) and got holidaymakers in the mood for their holidays. Music posters, CD covers and even the Atlanta Olympic Games benefited from his cheerful images.

As part of EXPO 2000, the first and only ‘Happy RIZZI-House’ was created in Braunschweig. Rizzi’s colourful 3D graphics from the world of sport have since become sought-after collectors’ items with high potential for appreciation in value. He was one of those artists whose ambition was to create a world of his own through his art. Just how successfully he achieved this was demonstrated by the world’s largest exhibition of the New Yorker’s work, held in Bremen to mark his 60th birthday in October 2010. James Rizzi, who for many years was regarded as the legitimate successor to the New York Pop Art legends Andy Warhol and Keith Haring, lived and worked in the New York neighbourhood of Soho until his sudden death in December 2011.