Painted idol
Riae Suicide
5 paintings in the series ▪ publishes as @riae_
Photograph published by @riae_ on Instagram ▪ source
See the workI scrolled past her and went back. It was the sweat. At that point I decide nothing, I just save it, and then it sits in the archive until it starts asking for something. That is Riae (Orange Van), and something in it is faintly vulgar and never once tips into cheap. Across five canvases I still cannot find the line it walks.
Who is Riae Suicide?
Riae Suicide is an Italian alternative model. She started in 2007 on SuicideGirls, the alternative-modelling site her model name comes from, and her tattoos have been central to her work ever since.
Her shoots have appeared on the covers of magazines including Playboy Italy, Tattoo Art and Tattoo Planet Magazine, and in 2019 Inked named her its Inked Girl of the Week. She has also worked in music videos and on television. In 2019 the publisher Shockdom released Riae, a graphic novel by Leonardo Cantone and Emmanuel Viola based on her story. She runs her channels herself, without an agency.
This summary is put together from publicly available sources and has not been checked with her. If something here is wrong or she would rather it were not here, write to the studio and it is corrected or removed.
Where you know her from
- 2007Starts modelling as Riae SuicideSuicideGirls
- 2018Patron (madrina) of the tattoo conventionTattoo Convention, Quartu Sant'Elena
- 2019Presents the preview of her graphic novelNapoli Comicon
- 2019Inked Girl of the WeekInked
- 2019GuestRomics, Rome
- 2019Graphic novel Riae, by Leonardo Cantone and Emmanuel ViolaShockdom (Manfont imprint)
Painting Riae Suicide in the studio
Riae (Bathing in Red) gives away less than the others, and that is why I kept coming back to it. There is something in that canvas I never managed to identify. I stopped trying somewhere in the second week and painted it anyway.
Most of Riae (Blue Hair) is not her at all. It is what she is kneeling on, and I could not tell you why that had to take four weeks. Something in her face shifted while I was working and I did not notice until I was nearly done. I left it exactly as it was, and that is the reason the painting stopped when it did.
In Riae (Mobile Phone) neither of us is looking at the other, and that suits me.
What the five have in common only became visible once they were standing side by side: in none of them does she meet my eye. I did not plan that, and nobody chooses a thing like that. Whatever is holding her attention is not me and is not you.
Every one of these photographs was built for three seconds of somebody's attention. I spent weeks inside each of them. Only the fifth, Riae (Shy), also exists as a signed print; the other four canvases are the only versions there are.
Riae Suicide paintings: what exists
There are five original paintings of Riae Suicide, oil on canvas and oil on stretched canvas, from 80 × 60 cm to 120 × 100 cm. Each is a one of one: signed, with a certificate of authenticity, and none of them will be painted again. Riae (Shy) also exists as a hand-signed print in a small edition; the other four canvases are the only versions there are. The canvases were painted by hand from those photographs; what they became is the painter's doing, not hers.
What is still available, and at what price, is on the cards below.
“Something stops me. Then I have to deal with it.”
I wrote to Riae Suicide about these paintings, as I do to every woman in the series. Not every message gets an answer. If you are Riae Suicide, or you made the photograph, and you would rather it were not shown here: write to the studio and it comes down. No explanation needed.
Works featuring Riae Suicide
All canvases →
Bathing in RedRiae
120 × 80 cm
Sold
Blue HairRiae
100 × 100 cm
€1.150
Mobile PhoneRiae
100 × 80 cm
Sold
Orange VanRiae
120 × 100 cm
€1.400
ShyRiae
80 × 60 cm
€750
ShyRiae: signed print on paper
100 × 80 cm
€35
Follow Riae Suicide
Questions about the paintings of Riae Suicide
Is a painting of Riae Suicide for sale?
Yes. 3 of the 5 original paintings of Riae Suicide are still available: Riae (Blue Hair), Riae (Orange Van) and Riae (Shy).
How big are the paintings of Riae Suicide?
Riae (Bathing in Red) is 120 × 80 cm, Riae (Blue Hair) is 100 × 100 cm, Riae (Mobile Phone) is 100 × 80 cm, Riae (Orange Van) is 120 × 100 cm and Riae (Shy) is 80 × 60 cm. The signed prints are 100 × 80 cm.
Are there prints of the paintings of Riae Suicide?
Yes. Riae (Shy) has a hand-signed print on paper, in an edition of 50: printed once, never reprinted.
Did Riae Suicide pose for these paintings?
No. They are painted from photographs that Riae Suicide published herself. She did not sit for them, and what the canvases became is the painter’s doing, not hers.
