I AM A PAINTER OF LAKE GENEVA
AND OF LIGHT
I am inspired by my region and its contrasts. My preferred technique is oil painting, but I also use acrylic paint and mixed media.
I love sharing my passion with people interested in art. I offer different types of workshops that develop talent and improve group dynamics through painting.
MY ARTISTIC APPROACH
Between Roots and Infinity
For forty years, my painting has been much more than a refuge; it is an act of faith where I cultivate the essential. With over 800 canvases created, I have made the canvas a sacred space where earth, lake, and sky meet, where reality and dream converge. My work is born from a deep need for connection: with my local roots, with the infinity that dwells within us all.
My approach oscillates between two complementary poles. On one hand, I paint the oil landscapes of my region to elevate them and reveal their soul. On the other hand, I give birth to imaginary cities, architectures of light where the spirit can escape. These dreamlike cities are temples of the imagination, places where time stops to make way for contemplation.
At the heart of this duality pulses a contrasted light, my spiritual signature. I do not paint only the light of day, but the light from within, the one that passes through shadow to reveal joy. This interplay of shadows and brilliance is a metaphor for the human condition: the search for light in darkness, peace in turmoil. It is an invitation to see beyond the visible, to feel that joyful and profound vibration that runs through all things.
This quest for the essential has led me to share these visions through 30 exhibitions in Switzerland and Europe. Each exhibition was a stage in this pilgrimage, a moment of encounter where the viewer is invited to enter this silent dialogue between matter and spirit. My painting is a shell where I am fully myself, and my wish is that each gaze upon a canvas becomes a moment of renewal, an invitation to rediscover one’s own inner light.
Shell of Light, 2013 ed.
Rita Mancesti co-published her artistic retrospective retracing her life as a painter; her beginnings, the exhibitions that marked her, and the history of her paintings. The book is available for purchase.
Artistic Biography
1970 Born in Perly, Geneva
1987 First group exhibition in Perly
1989 Graduated from the arts programme in Carouge and received First Prize in Drawing
1998–2000 Oil painting classes at the studio of artist Mello in Carouge
2000–2002 Oil painting classes at the studio of artist Dewiary in Lausanne
2001 Galerie Ditzoff in Coppet (VD)
2003 Opening of Atelier les 2 Peintres in Coppet (VD)
2005 Galerie du Clocher in Aubonne (VD)
2006 Galerie Pfeiffer in Rolle (VD)
2006–2008 Sculpture and stone-carving classes
2007 Galerie la Tour de Diesse in Neuchâtel (NE)
2008 Galerie des Talents in Sugiez (FR)
2009 Galerie du Jorat in Mézières (VD)
2010 Galerie Mimesis contemporary Art in Geneva (GE)
2010 Galerie d’Arfi in Saint-Sulpice (VD)
2011 Galerie Eule-Art in Davos (GR)
2012 Galerie im Heilzentrum in Saint-Moritz (GR)
2013 Co-publication of my monograph “Shell of Light”, cat. 1983-2013
2013 Galerie Raiffeisen in Nyon (VD)
2013 Galerie Art&Cadre in Versoix (GE)
2014 Gallery The Brick Lane in London (UK)
2015 Arte in Rete in Milan (IT) and Gallery in Piacenza (IT)
2015 Parvis d’Artistes in Tannay (VD)
2015 Tourist Office in St-Cergue (VD)
2016 Galerie La Spirale in Vevey (VD)
2017 Espace Murandaz in Nyon (VD)
2018 Galerie Schmid in Zug (ZG)
2019 Galerie La Spirale – Winegrowers’ Festival (VD)
2019 Les peintres de Gland – Grand Champ (VD)
2020 Musée romand de l’Agriculture in Gingins (VD)
2021 Opening of Atelier Mancesti in Coppet (VD)
2024 Gallery “L’incubateur” in Bulle (FR)
2024 Opening of Art-studio Rita Mancesti in Rolle (VD) – permanent exhibition
2025 Gallery of Hôtel Belvedere in Scuol (GR)
2025 40 Years Exhibition – IceBergues in Geneva (GE)
2026 Visarte newcomer member (VD) – group exhibition “business cards”
In planning:
2027 Museum exhibition “The Unveiled Woman” – Women Artists Museum (MAF)
2027 Exhibition at Ferme des Tilleuls – Renens