Dicioccio Essay Layouts

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LILIA CHANG were persons themselves. She tends to
anthropomorphize, welcoming the possible
LAUREN DICIOCCIO’S UNCANNY VALLEY humanity in even the oddest of works. She
thrives in the “uncanny valley,” the eerie
When asked, no one at first volunteered feeling of interpreting something both
their opinion on the Marvin Lipofsky sculpture, humanoid and artificial. On “pieces that are
California Loop (1968-69). Made out of blown both recognizable and strange,” she says,
glass, flocked textile, and patinaed copper, it “…there’s something really uncomfortable
stood on three legs precariously, looking quite about that when it’s done well.” She greeted
like an industrial balloon animal. Hans Arp’s Silent (1949), a supple, marble
sculpture, as if it were a shapely person: “It’s
Lauren DiCioccio was the first to admit, a lady, she’s curvy,” she remarked. “There’s a
while laughing, “Somebody has to thinkthis lot of tenderness in this bowing shape, and
looks terrible. I’d think the majority of the concavity of what I would say is the stomach
world probably thinks this is not a good of the piece.” I would have likened it to an
sculpture.” She, however, took pleasure in arabesqueing bean.
its peculiarity: “I love that this piece is very
elegant and has a lot of lift in the front and It’s easy to see through her own works
droop in the back that creates this funny how DiCioccio finds the Arp so personable:
balance,” she said. they, too, are abstract figures that appear
unexpectedly human. Called “Comfort
A self‐taught sculptor, DiCioccio Objects” and “Familiars,” they are sculptures
describes things as they are to her, as if they of hand‐dyed linen, stuffing, and felt, which
DiCioccio tediously upholsters and stitches
together herself. She works on multiple
pieces at once and cuts in half the majority
that do not turn out. Those that survive
however bloom in bulbous and graceful

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silhouettes; they exude personality and CHANG
elegance. They seem to have grown out
from themselves, appearing as idiosyncratic LILIA
gestures, ones that she calls “intuitive.”
Indeed, their appearances click: it’s difficult
to imagine them as any other way.

It seems simple to speak about sculptures
in this way, in relation to how they appear
like humans and in the shapes of bodies that
we know best. But DiCioccio will be the first
to acknowledge the frank joys she pursues:
“I really like accessibility in what I put into
the world,” she said. A former painter, she
“didn’t find there was a lot of joy to put a
painting up, and then to expect people to talk
about esoteric painting theory...I wanted to
make objects where people could talk about
themselves and personal experiences.”

John Ashbery once wrote that “lesser
artists correct nature in a misguided attempt
at heightened realism, forgetting that the
real is not only what one sees but also a
result of how one sees it.” For DiCioccio, the
“real” is the feeling that comes first. She has
grounded herself in perfecting the tightrope
walk in the uncanny valley, in the personable
and repulsive.

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NICOLAS CLINE “I really like…this line between discomfort and
comfort…those lines that divide two opposite
20 things are really beautiful things to explore.
Like the idea of melancholy that’s both
happy and sad, or, a quality of the grotesque,
that’s…like a gargoyle, both hideous and
beautiful,” artist Lauren DiCioccio explained
in aquiet classroom in the Cantor Center for
Visual Arts. DiCioccio gazed thoughtfully
at a relatively small ceramic work titled
Fleetline Moderne (1980), by Peter Shire, the
displayed sculpture sitting restlessly in the
contemplative atmosphere of the room. In
her examination of the artwork, DiCioccio
expressed how the contradictory aspects
of a particular artwork—the “opposite”—
becomes the uniting feature of different art
that she finds most engaging and persuasive.
Such embodied confrontations between
antagonistic forces lends a dynamism and
intricacy to artistic objects that offer lasting
interest to her.

DiCioccio’s own body of work spans
from embroidering two-dimensional
household objects—such as newspapers

—to constructing three-dimensionally is successful for DiCioccio in its ability to CLINE
knitted “comfort objects” that blur distinction mediate the disparities between its opposing
between sculpture and craft. Describing qualities—its simultaneous tenderness and NICOLAS
her own experiences in refining skill and harshness, pointedness and glossiness,
technique, she recalled how “as I worked mobility and stillness. It is, perhaps, not any
and made this body of work I spent so many single one of these qualities that makes
hours embroidering that I got so good at Shire’s work “sing” for DiCioccio, but rather,
it that people across the room would think the slippage between them, an uninterrupted
that the objects were real objects and shifting amongst categories that animates
approach them and see that they were these the work.
laboriously created things.” DiCioccio’s work
actively embodies divergences between Though specific themes might vary from
appearance and material, as she expressed work to work, DiCioccio’s interest can be
how her own objects shift ambiguously said to lie in the liminality of an artwork:
between authentic and facsimile. These the capacity for it transform and revise
oppositions are essential to DiCioccio’s itself in the perspective of the viewer. In her
appreciation of artistic work in general, as own words, it must be “both recognizable
well as to her own creative practice. and strange, which is what I’m always
trying to achieve, there’s something really
Returning to Shire’s Fleetline Moderne— uncomfortable about that when it’s done
DiCioccio described its range of delicate well.” Fundamentally, DiCioccio looks for
pastel colors as being “very soft, even though aspects in a work that do not easily lend
material-wise and texture-wise and edge‐ themselves to understanding—a strangeness
wise it’s so hard, and that’s one of the things that evades the onlooker’s immediate
I really like…that push and pull between this… recognition. It is here that DiCioccio’s efforts
very intentional palette…and then how hard in her own work become most apparent:
the lines are, and how slick the surfaces are, her objects are spaces to be investigated,
and the geometry of the piece.” Shire’s work arguments to be completed.

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NICOLAS CLINE —to constructing three-dimensionally
knitted “comfort objects” that blur distinction
“I really like…this line between discomfort and between sculpture and craft. Describing
comfort…those lines that divide two opposite her own experiences in refining skill and
things are really beautiful things to explore. technique, she recalled how “as I worked
Like the idea of melancholy that’s both and made this body of work I spent so many
happy and sad, or, a quality of the grotesque, hours embroidering that I got so good at
that’s…like a gargoyle, both hideous and it that people across the room would think
beautiful,” artist Lauren DiCioccio explained that the objects were real objects and
in aquiet classroom in the Cantor Center for approach them and see that they were these
Visual Arts. DiCioccio gazed thoughtfully laboriously created things.” DiCioccio’s work
at a relatively small ceramic work titled actively embodies divergences between
Fleetline Moderne (1980), by Peter Shire, the appearance and material, as she expressed
displayed sculpture sitting restlessly in the how her own objects shift ambiguously
contemplative atmosphere of the room. In between authentic and facsimile. These
her examination of the artwork, DiCioccio oppositions are essential to DiCioccio’s
expressed how the contradictory aspects appreciation of artistic work in general, as
of a particular artwork—the “opposite”— well as to her own creative practice.
becomes the uniting feature of different art
that she finds most engaging and persuasive. Returning to Shire’s Fleetline Moderne—
Such embodied confrontations between DiCioccio described its range of delicate
antagonistic forces lends a dynamism and pastel colors as being “very soft, even though
intricacy to artistic objects that offer lasting material-wise and texture-wise and edge‐
interest to her. wise it’s so hard, and that’s one of the things
I really like…that push and pull between this…
DiCioccio’s own body of work spans very intentional palette…and then how hard
from embroidering two-dimensional the lines are, and how slick the surfaces are,
household objects—such as newspapers and the geometry of the piece.” Shire’s work

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is successful for DiCioccio in its ability to CLINE
mediate the disparities between its opposing
qualities—its simultaneous tenderness and NICOLAS
harshness, pointedness and glossiness,
mobility and stillness. It is, perhaps, not any
single one of these qualities that makes
Shire’s work “sing” for DiCioccio, but rather,
the slippage between them, an uninterrupted
shifting amongst categories that animates
the work.

Though specific themes might vary from
work to work, DiCioccio’s interest can be
said to lie in the liminality of an artwork:
the capacity for it transform and revise
itself in the perspective of the viewer. In her
own words, it must be “both recognizable
and strange, which is what I’m always
trying to achieve, there’s something really
uncomfortable about that when it’s done
well.” Fundamentally, DiCioccio looks for
aspects in a work that do not easily lend
themselves to understanding—a strangeness
that evades the onlooker’s immediate
recognition. It is here that DiCioccio’s efforts
in her own work become most apparent:
her objects are spaces to be investigated,
arguments to be completed.

20

NICOLAS CLINE

“I really like…this line between discomfort and
comfort…those lines that divide two opposite
things are really beautiful things to explore.
Like the idea of melancholy that’s both
happy and sad, or, a quality of the grotesque,
that’s…like a gargoyle, both hideous and
beautiful,” artist Lauren DiCioccio explained
in aquiet classroom in the Cantor Center for
Visual Arts. DiCioccio gazed thoughtfully
at a relatively small ceramic work titled
Fleetline Moderne (1980), by Peter Shire, the
displayed sculpture sitting restlessly in the
contemplative atmosphere of the room. In
her examination of the artwork, DiCioccio
expressed how the contradictory aspects
of a particular artwork—the “opposite”—
becomes the uniting feature of different art
that she finds most engaging and persuasive.
Such embodied confrontations between
antagonistic forces lends a dynamism and
intricacy to artistic objects that offer lasting
interest to her.

DiCioccio’s own body of work spans
from embroidering two-dimensional
household objects—such as newspapers

20

—to constructing three-dimensionally is successful for DiCioccio in its ability to CLINE
knitted “comfort objects” that blur distinction mediate the disparities between its opposing
between sculpture and craft. Describing qualities—its simultaneous tenderness and NICOLAS
her own experiences in refining skill and harshness, pointedness and glossiness,
technique, she recalled how “as I worked mobility and stillness. It is, perhaps, not any
and made this body of work I spent so many single one of these qualities that makes
hours embroidering that I got so good at Shire’s work “sing” for DiCioccio, but rather,
it that people across the room would think the slippage between them, an uninterrupted
that the objects were real objects and shifting amongst categories that animates
approach them and see that they were these the work.
laboriously created things.” DiCioccio’s work
actively embodies divergences between Though specific themes might vary from
appearance and material, as she expressed work to work, DiCioccio’s interest can be
how her own objects shift ambiguously said to lie in the liminality of an artwork:
between authentic and facsimile. These the capacity for it transform and revise
oppositions are essential to DiCioccio’s itself in the perspective of the viewer. In her
appreciation of artistic work in general, as own words, it must be “both recognizable
well as to her own creative practice. and strange, which is what I’m always
trying to achieve, there’s something really
Returning to Shire’s Fleetline Moderne— uncomfortable about that when it’s done
DiCioccio described its range of delicate well.” Fundamentally, DiCioccio looks for
pastel colors as being “very soft, even though aspects in a work that do not easily lend
material-wise and texture-wise and edge‐ themselves to understanding—a strangeness
wise it’s so hard, and that’s one of the things that evades the onlooker’s immediate
I really like…that push and pull between this… recognition. It is here that DiCioccio’s efforts
very intentional palette…and then how hard in her own work become most apparent:
the lines are, and how slick the surfaces are, her objects are spaces to be investigated,
and the geometry of the piece.” Shire’s work arguments to be completed.

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JENNIFER XILO these materials into something that really
comes alive.” When observing other artists’
PERSONAL RESPONSE TO LAUREN DICIOCCIO’S pieces, DiCioccio suggests a significant
INTERVIEW SESSION relationship between artistic process and
product through materiality. In the light of this
Lauren DiCioccio defines an artist as an suggestion, medium is that through which
individual who can “walk into an empty room, the history of an artwork resides, a history
with a bunch of materials and…with…time, that, despite its supposed dormancy in the
energy, thought, and perspective…[translate] artwork’s final state, expands on the overall
20 meanings linked to its creation.

Upon looking at Marvin Lipofsky’s
sculpture, California Loop, for example,
DiCioccio considers the delicate intensity of
its making. Lipofsky’s California Loop is an
abstract structure with bulbous extremities
that is largely composed of blown glass.
DiCioccio reminds us that, aside from their
connection to heat and tools, its forms are
“literally the result of breath.” As DiCioccio
notes, the “lightness” of the piece is offset
by “weight” captured when the energy of
fire and air is compressed into the fragility of
glass—“balance” achieved as process remains
in product through the glass material. This
may lead to discussions about other moments
of balance in the work, such as that between
its thematic concepts or formal aspects—all

relevant to its ultimate scope of meaning. DiCioccio’s pieces absorb pressure and XILO
DiCioccio’s remarks on the process-product tension based handling, and in so doing,
paradox of medium inspire engagement with assert their purpose before they are even fully JENNIFER
her work. In reference to her recent collection, formed to figuratively absorb the troubles of
Comfort Objects, she explains: “a comfort the masses as artistic products. Even if we
object is like a teddy bear,…an object…in sit with her words, believing that we fully
psychology, that a child…[finds]…reassuring…” understand DiCioccio’s motivations regarding
The collective title is fitting because despite her work through what she generously
their strangely amorphous forms, these tells us, there is a special credibility in the
sculptures are soft and bright, reminiscent physicality of her process that enhances her
of most stuffed animals. She recalls that statements.
the exhibition opened a day after Trump’s
inauguration, a moment she describes as a You see, an artistic medium is a narrative
“divisive time” for the United States. DiCioccio —that of the maker as the first viewer,
shares, simply, that these “dolls” are meant mentally and physically handling what is to
to “remind people that…the whole reason become an artistic product. The meaning of a
for…living, is to…find moments of joy and final state is substantial, but it is the medium
positivity…,” especially in times of nationwide that provides the path from a past to a
malaise. present, defining the limitations and required
handling that, in turn, define a product. It calls
With her medium and its associated for particulars of making that lead to further
process in mind, we may ask ourselves how discussions and understandings concerning
her methods of making might inform her artistic intention, most importantly while
Comfort Objects. DiCioccio’s process consists the work is complete. It is the history that
of manipulating cloth. Linen, in the context truly exposes the life of an artwork, the life
of sculpture, calls for “kneading and pushing that is partially defined at the outset – at the
and pulling and…stitching and…upholstering,… moment an artist steps into an empty room
squeezing.” In the process of becoming, and selects his or her material.

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