Riccardo Zancano was born in 1971 in Trieste. His first approach to the art world came at the end of the nineties through objects and jewellery design. In 2000 he began to attend gemology and gem cutting courses. After two years he moved to Valenza Po: here he achieved the title of “Maestro d’Arte” in “Art of semiprecious stones and gems” at the “B. Cellini” art Institute.
In 2006 he opened a private laboratory for gem cutting in Trieste. In 2007 he focused his artistic production on painting, with a preference for hyperrealism-surrealism, but also on cinema and theatre. He then focused on developing his gem cutting and oil painting techniques. He attended drawing courses at the Accademia del Fumetto in Trieste where he refined his charcoal, sanguine and acrylic techniques on cardboard. From 2015 he took part in collective exhibitions and prestigious international contests.
Through his artworks Zancano describes every aspect of the contemporary society by highlighting its qualities and imperfections. His subjects are quite often allegories attributable to ornithological figures while the use of golden pigments is frequent. A distinctive feature of Zancano's production is the application of inserts in precious stones whose processing is performed entirely by the artist and to which precise meanings are attributed.