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How do you forge a career when you’re the offspring of one of the most famous women in the world? Well, if you’re Madonna’s son Rocco Ritchie, you quietly and diligently create an anonymous persona to launch your own artistic career.
It’s been revealed that ‘Rhed’, a rising name on the contemporary art scene, is actually Rocco Ritchie, the 21-old son of Madonna and film director Guy Ritchie.
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Since 2018, Rhed has already enjoyed three solo exhibitions at the Tanya Baxter Contemporary gallery in Chelsea, London. The gallery’s website does not mention Ritchie by name, but its biography of Rhed perfectly matches that of Ritchie. Both artists attended Central Saint Martins college and the Royal Drawing School.
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It’s also known that both Madonna and Guy Ritchie, attended the Tanya Baxter Gallery in 2020 for the opening of an exhibition of new work by Rhed. Press at the time was unaware of the connection to Rocco.
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Rhed’s work also features on the sales website Artsy, where prices went up to $32,500 for individual pieces.
The Tanya Baxter website offers a gushing description of his work: “When young emerging artist Rhed first burst onto the art scene with his first solo exhibition at Tanya Baxter Contemporary in 2018, he was hailed by some as the new Basquiat.
“There was a flair, an excitement in his paintings. Having an eclectic cultural background, with a childhood spent between New York and London, his paintings exuded an engaging mixture of innocence and confidence. He embraced an expressionist style and vibrant colors, coupled with the freedom and dynamic energy of New York graffiti art.”
PageSix was the first to unmask Rhed. In late December, Jerrod Blandino, co-founder of cosmetic company Too Faced, also posted a photo of himself with Rocco Ritchie and one of his paintings. Although Blandino made no mention of Rhed, the style was the same as the work seen on the Tanya Baxter website.
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Rhed’s gallery says he reveres “[Frank] Auerbach, Lucien Freud, Francis Bacon and David Hockney.” It quotes a handful of art critics praising his work, with one, Hilary Blink, stating, “Rhed is a painter of the 21st century and speaks for the millennial generation. It is so encouraging that he takes such a serious approach to figurative painting, displaying a passion for art as well as a modesty and an eagerness to explore and assimilate.”
Others have not been so kind. Guardian art critic Jonathan Jones said this week he believed Rhed’s work was being put into the public eye too soon.
“His paintings are clumsy adolescent efforts with no sign of originality or vigor,” Jones said. “Obviously that doesn’t mean he will not become a better artist with time. Painting takes work … These daubs are amateur stuff, vaguely imitating Picasso or Modigliani, that could have been done by a million young people.”
Rocco Ritchie was born in August 2000. Madonna and Guy Ritchie, divorced in 2008. In 2016, the couple engaged in a custody dispute over the then 16-year-old Rocco. The youngster was supposed to split his time between father and mother but appeared to want to stay in London with his dad. A custody settlement was agreed but the details were not made public.
Madonna has been on a skiing vacation in the Alps with some of her children this week and posted a photo of herself and Rocco on Instagram.
James Hart
I wish for Rocco Ritchie great success. He is talented. I’m a devotee of modern art and I do like his paintings.
I also enjoy Madonna and Cher’s music. I just wish both of them would stop getting plastic surgery on their faces. Pretty soon, their ears will be on the backs of their heads.
Gabby
I wish grown men would stop commenting on how a woman chooses to look.
rray63
So Gabby, I assume it’s okay for women to say something about women.
Godabed
Basic people should not be celebrated for being basic at what they do.
Cam
So he isn’t getting any help from his parents……except the fact that both of them showing up to an exhibition by a new artist would be all over the press in London and spark a massive amount of interest in that artist.
Also, the gallery gushes about him, no doubt knowing that if he shows there, his parents will show up again boosting their image.
Not saying he isn’t talented, but lets not pretend that the children of billionaires and famous folks don’t benefit from the connection.
James Hart
“Not saying he isn’t talented, but lets not pretend that the children of billionaires and famous folks don’t benefit from the connection.”
Hunter Biden, Joe Biden’s brothers, and the Trump children come to mind.
Cam
@James Hart
Awwww, the right wing trolls are still desperately going on about Hunter Biden. Talk to me when he steals money from a kids cancer charity or allows Saudi Arabia to murder American residents in return for cash handouts. You know, like the Trump kids.
James Hart
Cam:
Sorry to disappoint you, but I’m a registered Democrat and an honest broker – unlike a left-wing troll like you. Not all gay men and women think totally alike. I guess you’re an advocate for group-think. “1984” anyone???
Cam
@James Hart
LOL!!! You have the love that the troll KEEPS trying the “I’m a democrat but…..” line.
Try again troll.
johncp56
YUP! I will say I like his paintings but no help lol
cc423
Oh please. His work is good… not great and it’s obvious that the only reason this mediocre work is being lauded as incredible is because of his lineage and not his talent. He’s good…. Just not the next big thing based on his work alone.
Vince
Yes a very wise choice by a kid of a of the Rich and famous. Most artists have to go through a starving phase just to get to where he’s at.
If you think about it most art at these prices are traded and collected by wealthy people. The very people that he grew up with. So yeah he’s in.
CatholicXXX
likely that the gallery only featured him because they were paid to.
tjack47
I like his art.
James Hart
Me, too.
CBHaynes
This is so adorable –how cool! GO ROCCO!!!
emarell9
This is a joke, right? Srsly though… ‘Guardian’ art critic Jonathan Jones [cited in the article] is spot on. There’s nothing out of the ordinary on those canvases, except if you count how extreme the bad, alienesque proportions and color choices are. Regarding those claims made by the gallery: give me a break. Everyone knows gallery people are salespersons; they stay up late at night thinking up high-falutin’ b.s. to write about any sort of pieces they put on display. One might call it ‘artspeak.’ Or one might not wish to think about it at all, because it’s nonsense.
Nothing personal against young Rocco. He’s picked a nice harmless hobby and who knows, he might uncover some skill and/or talent in the future.
james7
Give the kid a break. So many children of the rich and famous do nothing. He’s showing some talent and some ambition.
SDR94103
ridiculous.
Kevan1
Art critics say his work work is immature. He has copied Picasso, Madigliani and other artist. He just needs to mature with his art and if he keeps at it maybe one day he will be great. Time will tell.
Wheelerman
I follow Artsy, and have found some art pieces I like on the site. I haven’t seen Rocco’s because I didn’t know the name he uses as an artist. However, based on the paintings shown here; I’ve seen many other artists on Artsy paint in same style. Maybe because I’m a Baby Boomer, and not a Millenial; I don’t really care for his paintings. I’ll check again on Artsy to see anything else he’s done. I do give him credit for doing art., and being his own man at age 21.
Sotzume
Really awful art…no talent. Derivative junk.
bsg1967
Reminds me of David on schitt’s Creek and his gallery career, no help there
KellyRobinsonJr
Yes, Modern and Contemporary art are often ugly and unsophisticated but calling him the new Basquiat… WTF Madonna? Sorry, his pieces are poor imitations of others artists’ work. There is no originality here. I see generic figures, broad strokes of brown, brown, and brown, with an afterthought of primary color. I’ve seen better Picasso or Modigliani copycats a million times. Is there any technical skill in his art? It’s a shame that he is thrust into the public eye right now because maybe he will become a better artist with time. Cashing in on his parent’s fame and fortune at this point in his career cheapens the quality of other artists and is disrespectful to art itself. Sorry, Rhed…
Openminded
I have zero appreciation for painting of any style. I don’t get moved by any painting out there. I suppose it’s due to the fact that paintings simply don’t talk to me. I wish I could understand paintings better as I can’t understand how anyone can claim one painting is better than another or that one artist is better than another. I have appreciation for almost all the other arts, but painting would be a lost art if it depended on my financial support.