CHIAOZZA: New Collage Works

Uprise Art is pleased to present CHIAOZZA: New Collage Works, a solo exhibition by the collaborative duo of Terri Chiao and Adam Frezza (CHIAOZZA). Presenting three distinct series unified by the practice of collage, CHIAOZZA continues their ongoing interest in play, revealing the wonder, humor, and magic found in the everyday.

Their process begins with painting and drawing on dozens of sheets of mixed-media paper using acrylic gouache. Occasionally, their daughter Tove joins in on the creative process. These painted sheets are then cut and torn into shapes, which become the foundational elements of each finished collage. Working on multiple pieces simultaneously, the artists spread out blank sheets of paper, testing out different arrangements by placing, dropping, shifting, and rotating the colorful fragments until they arrive at a configuration that captures the desired energy and form.

Loosely inspired by the collaborative surrealist drawing game, Exquisite Corpse, where multiple participants contribute to a single composition in alternating turns (often without seeing the full work until it's complete), the Exquisite Plant series is grown from the same approach. Fantastical flora emerge from this generative process, morphing and mutating into novel configurations that underscore the exploratory and experimental nature of their practice.

An exercise in physical and mental elasticity, CHIAOZZA’s work encourages imaginations to grow through open-ended play, exploration, and experimentation, illuminating the most essential qualities of the human spirit.

Taken a step further with their Torn Paper Collage series, the artists embrace looser forms that accentuate the materiality of paper itself. Hand-deckled edges are left intact, adding movement and rhythm to these nature-inspired works and reinforcing their tactile, organic qualities.

In their Meander Collage series, segments of cut painted paper pieced end to end form a continuous winding line that reminds us of the diverse moments and unexpected paths that compose a life. Squiggles, wiggles, arcs, and bends meander across the paper, echoing the trail of a speculative thought, the shape of a brain fold, the course of a tangle, or the trajectory of a walk.

Across these three series, CHIAOZZA’s works originate from a desire to continually re-examine our world, building an optimistic landscape of fiction and reality. Their collages are approached with an elemental directness, always searching for alternate modes of perception and ways of looking at the things we think we know. An exercise in physical and mental elasticity, CHIAOZZA’s work encourages imaginations to grow through open-ended play, exploration, and experimentation, illuminating the most essential qualities of the human spirit.

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