Jill Ricci

One of the most arresting visuals for me is an old wall layered with papers, graffiti and text- our modern hieroglyphics. I try to re-create this beauty in my work, the layers of time and decay are what interest… me. I hope that the person viewing my work will linger, trying to discover hidden imagery and text and depending on their life experience, find their own meaning or interpretation. Found images and objects function as signifiers of both individual and collective experience. By incorporating materials that are linked to the realities of daily life, I strive to establish an immediate identification between the viewer and the work of art. I am exploring the place between “high art” and popular culture, text and image, figuration and abstraction, past and present , and two and three-dimensional space. I begin working without a final vision in mind: I use collected materials and allow pattern, texture, color and structure to emerge organically. My foundation materials are paper, acrylic paint and wax, venetian plaster, fabric & leaf. I like to finish the pieces with gold leaf, glitter and glass beads as a final embellishment. I fancy the contrast of the glitter and shine with the distressed papers and plaster, as it is unexpected. In this new body of work, I want the pieces to evoke an old wall in Morocco, a Renaissance Church, a NYC subway wall and Malibu Barbie all simultaneously existing on one canvas.