Ritch Gaiti was born in 1954 and grew up in Brooklyn, New York, far from the wild horses he would later paint. He worked as a technology executive on Wall Street before giving it all up to become a full-time artist.
He is a self-taught painter who has been creating art for over twenty years. His work captures the spirit, drive, and emotion of horses running free on the open range. He also paints Native American heritage, trees, and the natural world.
He works in oils, often using a warm palette and texture to add another dimension. Sometimes he enhances his paintings with mixed media including sand. His goal is to put the viewer not only in another time and place, but also in the subject’s heart.
“There is an exciting energy when a horse runs free on the open range; a buffalo overlooks the plains that he rules; or a proud people enjoy a oneness with the land.”
His paintings are about change, evolution, and extinction—something emerges, something disappears. Each piece represents the spirit of a time long gone. He has exhibited at the International Museum of the Horse, the Gilcrease Museum, and the American Quarter Horse Museum.
He won the Judges Award of Merit in the Trail of Painted Ponies National Art Competition in 2006 and the People’s Choice Award at the American Plains Artists show in 2009. He is a member of the Oil Painters of America and the American Academy of Equine Artists. The Times of Trenton called him one of this country’s foremost equine painters.
Q: What makes Ritch Gaiti’s paintings unique?
A: His ability to capture the spirit and emotion of wild horses in their natural environment, combined with his textured oil technique and warm palette, creates a sense of timelessness that transports viewers to another era.