Rick Schettino Art Works

Distinctive sculptural guitars for curated interiors.

NEXT SHOW:

"The Gilded Guitar"

DRV Gallery, Gulfport, Florida.
Reception: March 21, 5:30-8:30 PM
Exhibit: March 21 and 28, 11 -4
More info.

In the workshop:
"Ladon's Thicket"
Les Paul Series

A series of bejeweled works on the legendary and iconic Les Paul electric guitar form.

"Ladon's Thicket" Les Paul Series

39" x 14", Available, Starting at $1250

It is said that in Ancient Greece, a thicket within the Garden of the Hesperides hid trees of gold guarded by a hundred-headed dragon named Ladon who coiled himself around the trees to protect them. A thicket isolated the golden grove, leaving the treasure frozen in time and hidden from the public. Likewise, the golden vines on this Les Paul will likely keep it from seeing the light of stage. To create these, I use jeweler-grade adhesive—the same material used to mount diamonds and gemstones in gold. Each work is finished with a durable, protective clear coat to preserve its brilliance and ensure lasting beauty. This is a brand new, fully functional guitar, the first of a series of six "Ladon's Thicket" works including a vineyard theme and a rose garden theme.

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About the Artist

Rick Schettino has lived a life defined by his passion for music and the lure of the road. As a solo singer/songwriter and professional free spirit, Rick spent the past 25 years traversing North America spreading joy through music while working remotely as a freelance art director.

Now settled in on the Florida Gulf Coast, Schettino leverages several decades of creative experience to venture into the world of fine art for luxury interiors.

Infusing his passion for guitars with his deep-rooted understanding of design, Schettino meticulously transforms new and rescued stringed instruments into "wall jewelry" — elaborate sculptures, melding "found objects" with intensely deliberate design. Each piece is a chronicle of the destruction of high function and complete re-imagination into pure form.

Rick Schettino creates one-of-a-kind statement sculptures, simultaneously elegant and opulent, that produce a visual crescendo in any room they inhabit.

Inquire for pricing on available works or commission a bespoke sculpture customized to your tastes and interests.

Email: Rick.Schettino@gmail.com

30% trade discount for interior designers.

The Artist
Rick Schettino

Artist's Statement
From an early age, I made the conscious decision that music would be my vehicle for bringing joy to the world. Now, since retiring from the road, and settling in Tampa Bay, it's the vibrant visions of my guitars that are bringing the joy. I have found that these fantastical multi-medium assemblages have an extremely high "wow factor." I believe that's what a statement piece should be about — eliciting an emotional response upon first sight.

Why do people have such visceral reactions to my guitars? I believe it's because the guitar is far more than just another gratuitous piece of decor. For many of us, it's the lead instrument in life's soundtrack—an iconic and emblematic archetype of popular culture, epitomizing sensual pleasure, masterful expression, and communal joy.

My process involves as much time silently staring, pondering, and imagining as it does meticulously hand-setting hundreds of curated artifacts. Each piece begins with its own serendipitous discovery of hidden treasures and evolves through several iterations into a refined, thematic assemblage, ensuring each work is utterly unique.

I am on a mission to create high quality fine art that transforms luxury spaces, elevate moods, and sparks conversations.

"A Guitar For Hera" (Electric & Acoustic)

31" x 12" Available, $650 each

The Greek god Hephaestus was cast out of Olympus by his mother, Hera, who found him physically imperfect. He spent years in exile honing his craftsmanship in secret to create an incredibly ornate throne encrusted with gold, silver, and diamonds. He gifted the throne to Hera, who was astounded by its brilliance. However, when Hera sat upon the throne, mechanical limbs sprang up and bound her. Hephaestus refused to release his mother until he was formally recognized as an Olympian God. Hera, astonished by her son's genius, capitulated. At a young age, I was lured and bound by the brilliant craftsmanship of Guitar Gods like Jimmy Page and David Gilmour. While I never reached their levels of fame, I believe they would agree that my decades of dedication to my craft has earned me a seat at the table. To create these, I use jeweler-grade adhesive—the same material used to mount diamonds and gemstones in gold. Each work is finished with a durable, UV protective clear coat to preserve its brilliance and ensure lasting beauty.

"Hathor's Sistrum"

39" x 14", Available, $650

To the ancient Egyptians, music was a bridge to the divine, and no deity presided over that bridge more gracefully than Hathor. This piece is a modern reimagining of her sacred instrument - the sistrum - used to rattle the heavens and drive away malevolence. (Music is truly magical in that way.) In the 50 years since I rattled my first sistrum, I have helped a small multitude escape from the incessant news of the malevolence in the world, reconnect with the present moment, and let their joy come out and shine. This piece is the result of building up several layers of carefully curated objects such as jewelry, beads, and filigree onto a layer of fine crushed glass for tecture. The entire assemblage is then entombed in solid black enamel. Next, the gold highlights are hand painted. After that, I use an antiqueing process to add a patina and give it an aged appearance.

"Ratatoskr’s Tree"

31" x 11" Available, $750

In Norse lore, the squirrel Ratatoskr is the tireless inhabitant of the World Tree, Yggdrasil. This mythical tree spans the universe, its branches reaching into the nine realms of the heavens, its leaves collecting the songs and stories of the cosmos. As a messenger, Ratatoskr scampers eternally between the celestial eagle above and the dragon at the roots, connecting the divine with the terrestrial. In this assemblage, each ring represents a distant world, and every leaf holds an infinity of epic tales of cosmic creation and destruction. In actuality, each of the leaves on this work has its own song and story as they were collected over many months of second-hand treasure hunting. It takes a good size collection of "found objects" and a lot of iteration to put together a symmetrical design like this. It's like putting together a puzzle without a picture to go by.

"Earth To Heaven"

39" x 14" Available, $750

The indigenous peoples of the American Southwest—including the Hopi, the Zuni, and their ancestors, the Anasazi—frequently applied intricate mosaics of silver, turquoise, shells, and polished semi-precious stones to musical instruments, such as flutes, whistles, and percussion instruments. The instruments were thought to grant the user the ability to communicate with the gods through music. Often bits of red were used to provide a contrast to the "sky stone" and silver, striking a balance between the heat of the earth and the cool of the heavens. I don't encase guitars in "sacred minerals" merely for decoration. It's more than that. It's an ontological transformation, raising the instrument to the level of a sacred object that has merged nature with art. As always, I use jewler-quality adhesives and the final work is finished with a durable, UV protective clear coat to keep it dazzling for years to come.

"Babbage's Brain"

33" x 11" Available, $650

Charles Babbage spent four decades working to build a machine that could think — essentially a steam powered computer. For the Victorian government, his "Analytical Engine" ended up being a grand folly—a sprawling, expensive, and ultimately unfinished dream turned scrap metal. "Babbage's Brain" is a steampunk style tribute to his inventive mind. Interestingly, half of Babbages brain is on display at the Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons. Oddly, Babbage loathed street musicians and organ grinders because he could hear them from his lab and it was a distraction. This piece was made by laying sown a bed of crushed glass, then building up layers of gears, guitar parts, and everyday objects such as batteries, buttons, and electronic detritus. The assemblage is then entombed in black enamel, followed by several layers of dry brushed iridescent colors to achieve a distinctive steam punk atmosphere. It's then finished with a satin UV protective clear coat to keep it looking sharp for centuries to come.

"Hardin's Pickaxe"

40" x 13", Available, $850

In 1849, in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert, a gold digger named James Hardin struck a "mountain of silver." He left the treasure behind, intending to return. But when he did, he found the desert had erased all trace of his claim. Harden went to his grave searching for his lost silver mine. The overlap in this story is that a pickaxe is a tool of a prospector's trade. And "axe" is slang for the tool of a guitar picker's trade. "Hardin’s Pickaxe," made with turquoise and silver on a blood red axe is a tribute to all of you Hardin's out there who have lost your treasure troves. Falling short of the expectations we have for our lives is not uncommon. But it may be for the better in many cases. As a young musician, I was confident I was destined for rock stardom. However, what I've realized in the sunrise of my golden days is that at my core, I'm really an introvert, and fame and fortune probably would have ruined me. But I haven't hung up my guitars just yet! (At least not until I've decorated them.)

"Gardens of Xochipilli"

Available, 31": $400 , 38": $600

In Aztec mythology, Xochipilli is the patron of music, dance, and creative ecstasy. He is depicted covered in sacred plants and flowers that unlocked the creative spirit. Within Xochipilli's domain, there is no boundary; art and nature are the same thing. This diptych is an homage to that absence of distinction. Each one is a musical instrument, but also a mosic of a garden. It hints at a realm where the vibrant scenery of nature and the sound of music become indistinguishable. It is a tribute to the "Flowery Song" - the ancient belief that true creativity is a living, blooming entity that envelopes both the instrument and the artist. These works were assembled from hundreds of bits and pieces of retired necklace chains and jewelry. The flowers are all hand-painted and the piece is finished with a UV protective clear coat.

"By the Light Of the Moon"

39" x 14", Available, $900

In daylight, "By the Light Of the Moon," assembled from thousands of glass beads, seashells, sand, and mother of pearl, depicts hand-carved baby sea turtles dashing toward a breathtaking tropical sunset. As night falls, dual internal and external UV lighting transforms the piece; an internal glow turns the sun into a full moon, while luminous beads create a star-spangled sky. Just as sea turtles are drawn to the light of the moon after hatching, the spectacular sunsets and sparkling night skies called on me to hand in my Free Spirit membership card and settle down. After years of roving across North America and living in scores of different locations, I finally feel at home here on the gulf shores of Florida. This piece is comprised of well over 1,000 glass beads of all different types as well as pebbles, shells, mother of pearl, and wooden beads. The palm leaves are made from plastic fern fronds.

"Seascape"

39" x 14", SOLD

This is a commissioned work. The client provided a variety of personal memorabilia from varios island vacations such as shells, jewelry, beads, and the seagull figurines. I combined these with various found objects and glass beads to create this impressionist beach-at-sunset themed mosaic. To complete the work, I went out and collected several of the smaller shells nearby on Anna Maria Island. This piece includes a UV light attached to the headstock. At night, it lights up a glow-in-the-dark, star-spangled sky.

"Encantos de las Hijas" Series

4"x10" to 38"x14", Available
3/4-scale guitar: $275, full size guitar: $625

The Spanish term encanto refers to charms or small items that are pinned onto sacred objects as prayers, spells, or tokens of gratitude. In the minds of children—the hijas, or daughters—simple bracelet charms such as hearts, stars, and unicorns become sacred objects that encapsulate their hopes and dreams. In this series, spanning three encanto-encrusted guitars, a violin, a ukulele, and a miniature, the instrument serves as the sacred repository for the encantos. This work starts off with hundreds of bracelet charms arranged over a layer of pebbles. The entire assemblage is then entombed in solid black enamel, afterwhich the gold leaf highlights are hand painted, and a durable, UV protective clear overcoat is applied.

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