When he isn’t running away looking for something overseas, acclaimed sculptor and printmaker Geoffrey Ricardo calls Brooklyn home.
He speaks with Goya Dmytryshchak.
What’s your connection to Brooklyn?
I moved to a studio with friends in 1999 and then started buying a house in 2001, where I have my studio nowadays.
I thought, this is the only place I could afford at the time … and just found a place that seemed right.
I had the space in the backyard that I could build a nice big studio, which I’ve got now.
It’s not too far from the city so I don’t feel like I’m stuck in the midst of suburbia; I feel like I’m on the edge of it.
What do you like about Brooklyn?
Proximity to the city. It feels a bit overlooked.
What would you change?
A nice cafe away from the traffic, somewhere I could walk to without having to deal with traffic.
A little less traffic noise from the freeway.
What’s your favourite cafe and/or eatery in the local area?
There isn’t much in Brooklyn, There’s Abby’s and the Dhosa Palace.
I go to Sammy’s in Newport a few times a week for a basic pie and coffee with my artist friend Robert Hague.
We talk stuff, work and nonsense. I like the kiosk opposite the Life Saving Club on Altona beach.
What are you passionate about and why?
Not being stupid. It seems like a good idea.
A lot of your work, from large-scale sculptures to small prints, feature animals. What’s the reason for this?
It’s a way of metaphorically talking about people.
You make an animal as a representation of someone, like we’ve always done with putting masks on, or a coat of arms, things like that, how we just create identities with it, or projected identities.
And people are kind of crazy silly things …half the time they’re at the mercy of their own instincts, and that’s all kind of very animalistic.
I suppose some of it is a reference to conservation issues.
What would people be surprised to know about you?
Have a guess … that I am never really sure about what I am trying to do?
Actually, they probably wouldn’t be [surprised to know this].
