Lorrie Anne Minicozzi

1.5’x2’x5’, Foam sculptured and acrylic painted mixed medium installation, 2023. The work features a literal breakthrough of alternative mediums in my painting style as the foam-carved hand and marionette perform the artistic dance of mimesis. I am the marionette, and I am the puppet master. As the marionette, I am controlled by the traditional creative process. I copy what others have created, and I cannot exist as an artist without their influence. As the puppet master, I control the art and the movement of style. Polly Wants A Cracker was inspired by Michelangelo’s sculpture Moses, as well as by his painting of the Creation of Adam. The marionette was sculpted from a heavy-weight foam block, and suspended with fishline. The hand that extends from the acrylic-painted portrait was constructed using lightweight floral foam. The work was my answer to thinking outside of the box.

Foam sculptured, acrylic and pastel painted mixed medium installation, 3’x5’x7’, 2023. As an adult, addressing my growing agoraphobia and anxiety through my art became a cathartic experience. Creating theatrical stage sets portraying my anxiety allows me to reconstruct memories internally, as well as externally through sculpture. My installations are home-centric in response to my reclusive domestic reliance -- and the sheer fact that they are too large to move. The Sanctuary is almost entirely created from foam. I have often been asked why I recreate mundane objects, instead of using the actual found object. Using polystyrene makes the answer simple in that the creation of the memory is mine to form, perfect or rearrange at will – I am in control. My use of polystyrene began with the collection of recycled materials and expanded when I began to depend on the highly forgiving nature of the lightweight inexpensive material. Much of the foam I use is from recycled products, but I also procure foam in hardened blocks for sculpting, Styrofoam wedges, molded dowels, and pliant moldable air-dry foam. Rummaging through recycling bins and commercially discarded plastics, I found no end to the polymer wasteland.

5’x5’x7’, Foam and wood sculpture and graphite portrait mixed medium installation, 2023. In the corner of my studio sits a shabby, faded and slightly balding stuffed teddy bear. His name is Etone, and he has been with me since childhood. Though temporarily lent to my children in their youth, he prominently holds guard as I work and lends an ear when necessary. A present from my mother, Etone has accompanied me through adolescent crushes, my rocky first marriage, the birth of my children and the death of my beloved grandparents. He is tear stained and dented from a history of fierce hugs, but he is resilient. Etone is the root of the autobiographical influence of The Refuge. The installation features a foam sculpted duplicate of Etone gazing out through an attic window as he sits on a hope chest among fragments of his life.

1.7’x2.5’x6.5’, Sculpted wood, pencils, plastic, graphite-rendered mixed medium installation, 2023. As a child, I dreamt of flying. The dream was recurrent; I was high in the clouds above the bustling city, open arms soaring through a cloudless sky. For as long as I can recall, I have collected birds and bird trinkets. Birds, nests, cages, and eggs made from ceramic, wood, feathers, resin, and more adorn my home and paradoxically keep me grounded. Birds link me to the environment and, like a compass when I feel lost, they remind me to return to nature. Today, it is through the birds that I feel capable, strong, and free. Empty Nest was modeled after a birdcage I acquired years ago to house flowers. My interpretive cage once held a solitary creature – existing as a pet – as no bird should be. It's very life dependent on the voyeur who holds his key. Relegated to the confines of his unsteady swinging perch, the prisoner one day finds the strength to wrench the bars open and gain freedom.