We admire the artist who can show us something familiar in a new and unexpected way. Emily Piccirillo uses sheets of medium gage steel wire remesh as supports for her stretched and tied canvasses. She paints portraits of the sky, interrupting vast atmospheres with clouds and bare branches. Yet a further interruption occurs when Piccirillo literally divides the composition (the most ambitious includes 48 elements). Negative spaces and a gradation of canvas size introduce new complexities for us to contemplate, but there is wonderful symbolism at play and this is where the artist really makes us think.
Born and raised in rural Connecticut, the artist spent her adult life in three major cities. Her art is a way to bridge these two extreme environments, persuading us to sustain a connection to the natural world even when our own progress conceals it. Like grass growing through the cracks on concrete sidewalks, Piccirillo's skyscapes are symbolic of the power of nature when restrained by the built world. The steel grid structure which is typically utilized for underground construction becomes a frame for what is seen above. Instead of the sky being the background, here it is the central subject. By turning the ends of the wire mesh 90 degrees at each corner, Piccirillo turns her painting into a sculpture. The art "floats" in front of the wall it hangs upon; the clouds float in the sky Piccirillo chooses to portray.
"As I first began painting the sky, I soon realized that as our collective canvas it has tremendous power. We all relate to the sky on an intimate, daily basis - we've even incorporated it into common expressions...sunny disposition...breezy attitude...stormy relationship...his head's in the clouds...the sky's the limit. And while it is comprised simply of air, vapor and light, it takes on corporeality with varying degrees of density and energy. I explored this further by adding tone to the reverse sides of the panels, allowing it to reflect onto the wall, incorporating and activating this other surface and the space between it, freeing color from form, introducing shadows, and blending field with ground. Each piece is an illusion of light that interacts with real light in the real world. The optical effects take on transitive properties while the piece hovers between painting and sculpture.
The configurations of my work allow us to look past our immediate world and "into the open" to restore nature to the center of our field of vision rather than treating it as something to be mastered or used." - Emily Piccirillo
Emily Piccirillo received a BA in Fine Art with Honors from Brown University, RI in 1982 and an MA in Art Therapy from New York University, NY in 1991. Gallery Neptune is pleased to present "Into the Open", Piccirillo's first solo exhibition of her unique, symbolic paintings.
Emily Piccirillo "Into the Open"
February 4 - 28, 2009
Reception for the artist: Saturday, February 7th, 7PM
Open for the Bethesda Art Walk, Friday, February 13th, 6-9PM
Artist's Talk: Saturday, February 21st, 2PM, snow date February 28th, 2PM
Current hours: Fridays and Saturdays from 12-5PM, also by appointment
To view works from "Into the Open" click on ARTISTS, Emily Piccirillo.
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