Press - Currents, Gallery opens at Playhouse Square

The Cleveland gallery scene is looking up. Literally. Elevation Art Ltd., at 1240 Huron Rd. five stories above Playhouse Square Center, has been aptly named.

Gallery owner Guy-Vincent Ricketti is himself an artist, artist representative and site-specific art project consultant.

Those experiences and his life's work have also put him in a position of not just understanding art but understanding the business of art.

Over the years he has made personal and business connections with artists both here as well as putting him in touch with some of the best known and up-and-coming artists in Europe and in this country.

It is these artists, he says, who will form the basis for the upcoming series of exhibitions Mr. Ricketti is planning for his gallery.

It has already begun, Elevation Art's debut exhibit "Connecting 13+" underway now, features 13 artists from Italy and Cleveland. An odd pairing? Not at all because all of the artists speak the same visual language.

Among them is painter Achille Pace whose credentials include representing Italy three times in the Venice Bienniale and in museums throughout Europe and South America.

Fellow Italians Luigi Boille and Aldo Bertolini join Cleveland area artists Jurgen Faust, Charles Tucker, Gerry Vandevier, Robert Jergens, Dennis Long, Michael Castellana, Dale Goode, Susan Squires, Robert Banks, and James LoParo in the maiden show.

It is this mix of international, regional, national and local artists that interests Mr. Ricketti. He adds he has also dedicated himself and his gallery to showing work of those who are rarely seen in Cleveland.

They are at all levels of the career spectrum, he notes, "from emerging to mid-career to blue chip." It is that blend of national and international, new and seasoned artists that he feels will add something unique to the Cleveland art scene.

And, as the gallery name might imply, Elevation Art Ltd, may very well elevate the discussion of art in Cleveland.

Mr. Ricketti said that notion was validated when an astonishing 400 people turned out for the June opening of "Connecting 13+." They were not the same people he sees at other art openings around the city proof positive, he said, that Clevelanders are not only ready for what Elevation Art will offer but there is also a pent up demand for it.

In addition to the operation of his gallery, Mr. Ricketti represents a clientele of 20 artists and specializes in bringing site-specific commission work to both public, corporate and private spaces and is dedicated to the idea that art should not be a design after thought or after-the-fact decision when it comes to building, designing or decorating either private or public spaces.

Although he is just beginning of his career as gallery owner, Mr. Ricketti is already concentrating on the future. That is what entrepreneurs do.

His vision includes seeing the Playhouse Square area of downtown become a downtown art district. He said he sees Elevation Art, as the beginning of a growing community where artist, designers, architects and furniture makers whose studios will emerge to provide space to not only work but exhibit.

In five years Mr. Ricketti said he would like to see his gallery become involved in high profile international art expositions and interacting with other U.S. art centers in New York and Miami.

The 44-year old Lakewood resident is married and is a father of his own emerging artist, a six year old daughter who also exhibits her artwork at Elevation Art Ltd.,- in Mr. Ricketti's office.

"She has been very excited about that," he notes. Elevation Art is open Wednesday and Thursday from noon to 5 p.m. or call (216)430-2751 for an appointment.

"Connecting 13+" is scheduled to close soon and will be followed by "Rhythms" an exhibition featuring Latin, Italian, and American artists. The closing of the current show and opening and run dates for the new exhibition had not been announced at press time.