Gathered and Displaced by Ricky Romain. (2008/9 oil on canvas 148cm x 118cm)
Groups of displaced people have a particular resonance for me because I am Jewish.
I became concerned with the plight of asylum seekers and refugees when the tabloid press took up the issue and began to deliberately and regularly inflate the tension surrounding the subject of immigration and confuse the distinction between asylum seekers and migrant workers. I felt my sympathies being drawn to both groups for different reasons.
I was very much pre-occupied with the dilemma of where these people would go if they were refused entry, or leave to remain, in this country. It was as if we being encouraged to believe the problem would go away if these groups of people were refused entry. At this point anonymous representations of uprooted humanity began to wander onto my canvases and as I made space for them, their predicaments and their complex histories began to haunt me. I feel that I can work through my own obligations and manifest my empathy by resolving these issues visually.
Bid for Freedom, by Ricky Romain (2000-2002, oil on canvas, 133cm x126cm, private collection).
Bid for Freedom by Ricky Romain. oil on canvas 2000/2 detail (private collection)
Fast Track Family, by Ricky Romain (2004/2005, oil on canvas, 172cm x 108cm,).Gathered and Displaced, by Ricky Romain (2008/2009, oil on canvas, 148cm x 118cm,).Immigrant Dreams, by Ricky Romain (2000-2007, oil on canvas, 208cm x 180cm,).In Shadow, by Ricky Romain (2005-2007, oil on canvas, 161cm x 151cm,).‘I Woke Up In A Dream’ by Ricky Romain. oil and Indian ink on Gesso on Canvas 164 x 114cm 2022Score for the Dispossessed, by Ricky Romain. Score for the dispossessed (2009, oil on canvas, 174cm x 148cm,).
‘What’s the Point’ by Ricky Romain. 2012 oil on canvas 110cm x110cm (private collection)
Slient group. by Ricky Romain. (2012 oil on canvas. 45cm x 45cm)
The-Interpreters by Ricky Romain (2013 oil and Indian ink on paper.-39cm-x-25cm Private Collection.
Targets by Ricky Romain (2011/12 oil on canvas !56cm x 130cm.)
Disapeared. by Ricky Romain (2008/11 oil on canvas. 125cm x 64cm.)
Point of Arrival by Ricky Romain ( 2001 oil on canvas 204cm x 165cm)
The ones you hear about. The ones you don’t by Ricky Romain ( 2009 164cm x 148cm)
Coat Man by Ricky Romain (2005 oil on canvas 150cm x 60cm Private Collection)
Coat Man 2 by Ricky Romain. ( 2004/5 oil on canvas. 150cm x 55cm. Private Collection)
Displaced and Disfigured by Ricky Romain.(2000/5 oil on canvas 107cm x 106cm)
Marked Men at the Ghetto Theater. (homage to Bomberg) by Ricky Romain. oil and ink on canvas. 142cm x 105cm. 2011/16
detail 1 Marked Men at the Ghetto Theater. by Ricky Romain oil and Indian Ink on canvas. 2011/16
detail 2 Marked Men at the Ghetto Theater. by Ricky Romain oil and Indian Ink on canvas. 2011/16
‘A broken heart in Exile’ by Ricky Romain oil on canvas. 184cm x 140cm. 2008/16
Silent Call from Whispering Generations, by Ricky Romain. oil on canvas. 195cm x 175cm.
