Photography: Philip Keane, Blue Sky Productions
Biography
Joseph Fucigna was born in New Rochelle, New York and grew up in Norwalk, Connecticut. He received his Bachelors of Fine Arts degree from Alfred University School of Art and Design in New York and Masters of Fine Arts degree from the School of Visual Arts in New York City. He also attended the Triangle Workshop in Pine Plains, NY and worked with the renowned sculptor Sir Anthony Caro and critic Clement Greenberg. Presently, Fucigna is a full-time Professor of Art at Norwalk Community College and is the Chair of the Studio Arts Program. Fucigna has also taught in the Art Department at the State University of New York, Stony Brook. Presently, he resides and works in Weston, CT.
Fucigna has exhibited nationally including shows at the Fitchburg Art Museum in Massachusetts, National Weather Center Biennale in Oklahoma, the United Nations, Grounds for Sculpture in New Jersey, the Lyman Allyn Art Museum in Connecticut, the New York State Museum in Albany, NY and the Burchfield Art Center in Buffalo NY. He has had one-person exhibitions at the Housatonic Museum of Art, Five Points Gallery, Fred Giampietro Gallery, Sculpture Barn, Norwalk Community College Art Gallery, Artist Space New Haven and the Bannister Gallery at Rhode Island College. Fucigna has also been a two-time recipient of an Individual Artist Grant from the Connecticut Commission on the Arts and chosen as an 2021-2022 Korry Artist Fellow at the Norwalk Art Space.
Artist Statement
Joseph Fucigna is a multi-media artist whose work is rooted in process, play and the innate qualities of the materials used. Through experimentation, play and innovation he creates sculptures and paintings that are known for their power to transform materials, inventiveness and odd but suggestive subject matter. The ultimate goal is to create an artwork that is a perfect balance between suggestive content, and the formal qualities of the material that allow both to be active participants.
With his sculptures he enjoys taking modest industrial materials and transforming them into elegant yet provocative abstractions that speak about the inherent qualities of the material, process, and craft. At first, the process creates the product. The inspiration for a series usually begins with the discovery of a common industrial material. It could be the linear and gestural qualities of a common garden hose, the vibrant colors of plastic barrier fencing, the sensual shape of a sliced open rubber truck tire inner tube or the soft bends and folds of recycled scrap steeI that sparks an idea. Through play, trial and error, and vision Fucigna alters the materials into new and unexpected formal abstractions that speak about the materials intrinsic characteristics. As the work progresses and he gains a deeper understanding of a medium and its processes, he tries to move beyond the physical and formal characteristics. Fucigna states, “I do not want the sculptures to be just about the material, they also need to have an underlying theme or concept that carries it beyond the superficial. Creating an object of possibilities that balances suggestive content and the formal qualities of the material is the ultimate goal.”