Caprice Pierucci: Full Circle

Pierucci’s enigmatic forms push and pull, as if in cycles of beginning and ending, innocence and knowing, grief and healing. They are mysterious yet comforting. Their delicate contrasting forms speak to the dynamics of the universe and to the everyday natural elements that fill our lives. They resonate with humility and give respect to entropy.
The curvilinear nature of her work, made entirely of formed, sanded and stained wood, is expertly sculpted. Whether they are light and airy in color or dark and knotted, they hold a harmonious song of keynotes that expand and contrast unexpectedly. The rhythm keeps your eye continuously moving through each piece. Their shadows form curious cascades of light and dark. These sculptures engender reflection and meditation.
Pierucci’s inspiration is from her mother, Louise Pierucci Holeman - a gifted and known fiber artist in the 1970s. Caprice grew up seeing patterns and structures. While her work has evolved, moving away from fabric, the armature has become the focus of beauty, narrowing in on pattern as a metaphor for “eternity and time”.
The process starts with very raw and mundane materials. Pierucci works predominantly with pine sometimes adding plywood, Douglas fir, or poplar. Caprice composes flat pieces of wood together and carves, grinds, and sands them into organic forms. This original approach to wood carving is both additive and subtractive as the forms come into being. Pierucci is not seeking perfection in craft, and yet the contrast and outcome of these works are exceptionally formal. The weaver’s approach and design is evident. The works embody concepts of interlacing, warping, and utilizing tension while ‘weaving’ the wood as a fibrous medium.
Caprice received her BFA from Carnegie-Mellon University before earning her MFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York City. She currently works in Austin, Texas and is a Senior Lecturer at Texas State University. Caprice has been in numerous exhibitions including a solo exhibition at the Art Museum of Southeast Texas. Her sculptures are also included in significant collections including the Moody Foundation, Morgan Stanley and the Rockefeller collection.
Pierucci gives visual expression to concepts of time and space as they relate to our individual and collective evolution. Her sculptures focus on universal and interdependent relationships in nature. These works express the sacred space of creating art for the sake of beauty, as well as continuing to ask life’s questions with intrepid curiosity.