About The Artist
Robert Rikoon was born in New York in 1954 and graduated from Harvard University in 1977 with a Bachelors of Arts degree. He also studied at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts School, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and the Yale University School of Art in Norfolk, Connecticut. Arthur DaCosta, part-time dean at PAFA, became a friend and mentor. DaCosta recognized Rikoon’s affinity for painting with pure color pigments and calligraphic brushstrokes and he encouraged Rob to pursue egg tempera as a medium.
After living in Europe where he visited chapels filled with frescos and egg tempera altars, Rikoon moved to New Mexico. Soon after, he began work on his first large scale egg tempera series, “We Trust in the Loyalty of Old Friends.” Taking three years to complete, the work is comprised of six panels, each six feet high by four feet wide. A “bird’s eye” composite of cultural, aesthetic and social views of the State of New Mexico, the painting is on permanent loan to the Capitol Art Collection and is displayed in the Rotunda of the New Mexico State Capitol Building.
Rikoon dedicated 18 years to “The Liminal State Panels, “which consists of 62 individual panels that create an installation of four, large scale walls. The “Liminal State Panels” trace the breadth of Rikoon’s interest in combining figurative and landscape images. “As a painter, I began my journey using fairly traditional landscapes as a means of expressing the human experience, focusing on color and texture. Now, I am increasingly interested in the movement and energy flow of the natural world to make the internal state of things visible.”
Though painting came first as a vocation, Rikoon decided early on to pursue a simultaneous career in business. He earned his MBA from the University of New Mexico and after managing trust departments at various banks, he founded what would later become The Rikoon Group, one of the largest independent financial advisory firms in New Mexico. A long-time financial columnist at The Santa Fe New Mexican, he is also an avid athlete and ultra-marathon trail runner. Rob was a founding member of the Mountain Cloud Zen Center and the Santa Fe Alliance for local businesses. He has two adult daughters, Robyn and Hannah. He and his wife, Dana reside in Santa Fe where he still practices daily yoga and zazen meditation.
The artist discusses his view on painting:
“Paintings need to speak directly to the viewer. Too often, artists try to follow intellectual trends which place abstract ideas above emotions and feelings. People deserve to see paintings of subjects they recognize, painted in a way that shows them something deeper than what a photograph would record. Paintings should challenge the thought process of the viewer in new ways. The viewer should experience feeling refreshed and renewed.
In my paintings, I show how man has transformed nature while still remaining small in comparison with nature’s power. I depict scenes that show how collectively we have created places of beauty and order. The paintings give us a chance to step oustide our normal perspective and see the big picture. I hope that my paintings help people realize that we all inhabit the same environment.”
His project “The Liminal State Panels” has come to completion after more than 18 years.