Valerie Piraino Work | Artist Statement & CV | Return to Artist List
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Artist Statement
I have an intense curiosity about how the past impacts the present, particularly family history. I make installations and sculptures that center around a large collection of family slides. I create fragmented, domestic spaces by using drywall, wallpaper, and furniture. These spaces serve as sets that I project the slides into. I often use materials with strong nostalgic associations, such as the patina of an aging slide or the old-fashioned floral pattern of wallpaper. These installations are heightened and dramatized by using colored lights and disjunctive modes of projection.
My goal is to create a fragmented family portrait, one that relies on impressions, not facts, estrangement because of a psychologically fraught past, not comfort in an embellished nostalgia. I want to tap into the complex role-playing between a husband and wife, a father and son and the external and internal self. I want to give form to the nuanced relationships that determine a family, particularly the generations characterized by emotional restraint. Because of that, there is always a frustrated element to my work. The slides are typically overlapping, upside-down, or backwards, making a coherent image impossible to see. These images are fleeting, adding up to a displaced and imaginative narrative.
I have an intense curiosity about how the past impacts the present, particularly family history. I make installations and sculptures that center around a large collection of family slides. I create fragmented, domestic spaces by using drywall, wallpaper, and furniture. These spaces serve as sets that I project the slides into. I often use materials with strong nostalgic associations, such as the patina of an aging slide or the old-fashioned floral pattern of wallpaper. These installations are heightened and dramatized by using colored lights and disjunctive modes of projection.
My goal is to create a fragmented family portrait, one that relies on impressions, not facts, estrangement because of a psychologically fraught past, not comfort in an embellished nostalgia. I want to tap into the complex role-playing between a husband and wife, a father and son and the external and internal self. I want to give form to the nuanced relationships that determine a family, particularly the generations characterized by emotional restraint. Because of that, there is always a frustrated element to my work. The slides are typically overlapping, upside-down, or backwards, making a coherent image impossible to see. These images are fleeting, adding up to a displaced and imaginative narrative.
CV
EDUCATION
2009 M.F.A. Columbia University School of the Arts, New York, NY
2004 B.F.A. Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
Any form may be transformed into another form. The House at Lincoln Road, Brooklyn, NY 2011
The Third Party, Night Gallery, Los Angeles, CA 2011
Fidelity, Meyerhoff Gallery, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD, 2011
Collective Show, Participant, New York, NY 2010
Usable Pasts, Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY, 2010
Arctic Book Club, EFA Project Space, New York, NY, 2009
Whitney's Biennial, C.R.E.A.M. Projects, New York, NY, 2009
Visual Arts MFA Thesis Exhibition, Fisher Landau Center for Art, New York, NY, 2009
Everybody, Envoy Gallery, New York, NY, 2009
The Practice of Joy Before Death, Scaramouche, New York, NY, 2009
1st Year MFA Exhibition, Nash Building, New York, NY, 2008
Dynasty, Gallery MC, New York, NY, 2006
RESIDENCIES/AWARDS
2009 Artist-in-residence, Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY
2008 Ninah & Michael Lynne Fellowship Award, Columbia University
Visual Arts Merit Scholarship, Columbia University
Digital Media Center Fellow, Columbia University
2007 Neiman Center Fellowship, Columbia University
2006 Artist-in-residence, Brooklyn Fire Proof, Brooklyn, NY
2004 Jacques and Natasha Gelman Travel Award, Maryland Institute, Baltimore, MD
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bret McCabe, “A Matter of Perception,” City Paper, March 9, 2011
Cherilyn Liv Wright, “Usable Pasts,” The International Review of African American Art, July 15-October 24, 2010
Christina, Ha, “SundayArts News.” Thirteen Public Media, September 19, 2010
Vince Aletti, “Usable Pasts,” The New Yorker, August 25, 2010
Holland Cotter, “The Practice of Joy without Death; It just wouldn’t be a party without you,” New York Times, April 17, 2009
EDUCATION
2009 M.F.A. Columbia University School of the Arts, New York, NY
2004 B.F.A. Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
Any form may be transformed into another form. The House at Lincoln Road, Brooklyn, NY 2011
The Third Party, Night Gallery, Los Angeles, CA 2011
Fidelity, Meyerhoff Gallery, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD, 2011
Collective Show, Participant, New York, NY 2010
Usable Pasts, Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY, 2010
Arctic Book Club, EFA Project Space, New York, NY, 2009
Whitney's Biennial, C.R.E.A.M. Projects, New York, NY, 2009
Visual Arts MFA Thesis Exhibition, Fisher Landau Center for Art, New York, NY, 2009
Everybody, Envoy Gallery, New York, NY, 2009
The Practice of Joy Before Death, Scaramouche, New York, NY, 2009
1st Year MFA Exhibition, Nash Building, New York, NY, 2008
Dynasty, Gallery MC, New York, NY, 2006
RESIDENCIES/AWARDS
2009 Artist-in-residence, Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY
2008 Ninah & Michael Lynne Fellowship Award, Columbia University
Visual Arts Merit Scholarship, Columbia University
Digital Media Center Fellow, Columbia University
2007 Neiman Center Fellowship, Columbia University
2006 Artist-in-residence, Brooklyn Fire Proof, Brooklyn, NY
2004 Jacques and Natasha Gelman Travel Award, Maryland Institute, Baltimore, MD
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bret McCabe, “A Matter of Perception,” City Paper, March 9, 2011
Cherilyn Liv Wright, “Usable Pasts,” The International Review of African American Art, July 15-October 24, 2010
Christina, Ha, “SundayArts News.” Thirteen Public Media, September 19, 2010
Vince Aletti, “Usable Pasts,” The New Yorker, August 25, 2010
Holland Cotter, “The Practice of Joy without Death; It just wouldn’t be a party without you,” New York Times, April 17, 2009
Waking Up in Ruins, dimensions variable, lights, drywall, contact paper, wallpaper, boudoir, bench, jewelry, hand mirror, slide projector, slides, frame, 2011.
Waking Up in Ruins, dimensions variable, lights, drywall, contact paper, wallpaper, boudoir, bench, jewelry, hand mirror, slide projector, slides, frame, 2011.
Waking Up in Ruins, dimensions variable, lights, drywall, contact paper, wallpaper, boudoir, bench, jewelry, hand mirror, slide projector, slides, frame, 2011.
Fidelity, dimensions variable, frames, panels, projection screen, table, slide projectors, slides, wood molding, wallpaper, 2011.
Fidelity, dimensions variable, frames, panels, projection screen, table, slide projectors, slides, wood molding, wallpaper, 2011.
Fidelity, dimensions variable, frames, panels, projection screen, table, slide projectors, slides, wood molding, wallpaper, 2011.
Staged, 48” x 20” x 17”, table, drywall, contact paper, wood trim, frame, 2011.
Split, 36” x 23” x 30 ½”, frame, panels, chair leg, wood trim, mirrored plexiglass, 2011.
Split, 36” x 23” x 30 ½”, frame, panels, chair leg, wood trim, mirrored plexiglass, 2011.
Pith, 22” x 48” x 16 ¼”, drywall, contact paper, wood trim, 2011.
Pith, 22” x 48” x 16 ¼”, drywall, contact paper, wood trim, 2011.
Nom de Plume, dimensions variable, wallpaper, contact paper, 2011.This work was installed in a historic brownstone. I applied several layers of contact paper and wallpaper and ripped it back.
Nom de Plume, dimensions variable, wallpaper, contact paper, 2011.
With Pen in Hand, 7’ x 7’ x 9’, frames, slide projectors, slides, tables, 2010.
With Pen in Hand, 7’ x 7’ x 9’, frames, slide projectors, slides, tables, 2010.
The Pregnant Moment (The house stripped bare), 3’ x 5’ x 4’, frame, table, slide projector, slide, inkjet print, 2010.
The Pregnant Moment (The house stripped bare), 3’ x 5’ x 4’, frame, table, slide projector, slide, inkjet print, 2010.
The Visionary Stranger, dimensions variable, slide projectors, slides, frame, mirror, 2010.
Dead Ringer, dimensions variable, slide projector, slide, glass, frames, 2010.
Dead Ringer (detail), dimensions variable, slide projector, slide, glass, frames, 2010.