Enrico “Henry” Pinardi, an Italian-American artist and legendary RIC art professor, has left an impact on the lives of an extraordinary number of former students. Throughout his lifetime he has not only created recognizable and influential pieces of art, but also formed lifelong connections that have impacted the lives of many.

Born in 1934, Pinardi faced hardships growing up between Cambridge, Massachusetts and Sant’Ambrogio di Valpolicella and Verona, Italy, where living through polio and post-war European reconstruction helped him find his path to his unique, dark art. “My work may veer away from the comfortable, but it is my sense that work should draw upon what is in the real world, even if it means the work is unsettling, or disturbing,” said Pinardi.