"Zephyr Returns" is a series of nine canvasses, made after the painting Allegory of Spring, by Renaissance master Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510). The series has been painted after two coordinates given to the artist: spring and its symbols on one side, and glasses, on the other.

On every canvas is represented each of Botticelli’s characters. The Renaissance work, whose meaning has often been reinterpreted against many historical, philosophical and literary sources, is faithfully reproduced, as well as also chromatically enhanced. In his new series each character, such as Venus, Flora and the nymph Chloris, or, following more recent interpretations, Philologia, Rhetorica and Poetry, is re-fashioned like a model of a contemporary photo shoot. The artist has also placed flowers of many species on their eyes, the same represented in Botticelli’s work: irises, cornflowers, poppies, daisies, violets, among the more five-hundred species painted by the Italian master.

Ticca’s series aims to evoke two mysteries: the representation of the human figure on one side, interpreted under the flamboyant lights of myth and fantasy, and the mystery of the hidden figure on the other. Artistic representation, like glasses, is eventually called into question to solve/reveal the gaze, as well as the mystery of the real.