One of the people I've come across in life who has been very important to me being where I am today was a professor of art I had back in Rhode Island College between the years of 1987-90. It was during this time I sort of put photography aside in order to learn about drawing mostly(this led to learning about paint). I really didn't, and in many ways still don't, have an ability to draw. I marvel at artists with impeccable draughtsmanship as my hand seems to move faster than my eyes and is harsh and crude. Yet Henry(Enrico Pinardi) saw something in me and really pushed me. My first real meeting with him came in a materials workshop that he held. Suddenly here is this incredible draughtsman telling me that you can make 'drawing' by using things like tape and dissolving charcoals with mineral spirits and applying them with a brush. Light bulbs went off for me in that simple 1 hour workshop. Next thing I knew I was abandoning my realization that I wasn't very good and going forth with my ideas for pictures in completely new(at least to me) ways. I found my art. I remember making still life drawings using a lit light bulb and a plate. I also had this burned out smiley face candle that I drew over and over again. These objects soon became symbols and Rico was always pointing out symbolism to me even when I didn't know what I was doing. Recently we started the Enrico Pinardi fan club page on facebook which is really funny because Rico could really care less for the internet. He will be 80 soon and we thought about maybe making some work for him for his birthday. This made me rethink some of these old ideas and re-do them using photography since that is where my life has gone these last 14 years. I wanted them to be portraits of Henry in a sense, but still be self portraits, so I began working out some very Rico-esque ideas and set-ups and combining them with my own imagery. I'll be working on these for a little while and they will grow into their own thing in time. I'm not sure if I still have that burned out candle, but this little bouncy ball came to me somewhere along the line and it didn't hit me until today that memory of the candle back when I was still a student under Rico. Photograph by Richard Sayer.