Alyssa Piro

Return to Artist List

 

 

 

What is my work about?

How does someone who is taught to be quiet, polite, and agreeable learn to assert themselves? I am interested in ?putting myself out there”– in a way that does not leave me vulnerable or easily objectified, yet ‘out there’ enough to air my experiences and thoughts. I have developed tactics to live in the misogynistic world. In my efforts to not to be passed over, I try to enact a connection with the viewer’s body- to make work that imposes a physical presence, a corporeal tingling or tension, the feeling that something/someone, somewhere, is watching you- in place of myself.

 

Artist Statement

Through my work I am not only asserting myself as an artist, but also as an individual in the universe. I wonder if my pieces can act as surrogates for myself, functioning out in the world in a way that I cannot, as a person who is unobtrusive, agreeable and polite. The spacial, emotional, physical and mental infiltration carried out by these stand-ins give me feelings of power and control. In my work with resist indigo dyeing (images 1-4), the pieces function as unavoidable “black holes”- larger than the human scale, and stark when placed in their typical habitat- the blank white wall. They are visually unavoidable, and demand to be negotiated with. My works for the piece ‘intimidation tactics/exit strategy’ (images 6-13) have similar motives, though these pieces physically as well as visually interrupt/assert/invade personal space/disrupt the landscape. I first came upon this conception of an encroaching or retreating, and always observing gang of girls while working on my show ‘Group Seeks Like-Minded Individuals’ (images 14-15), where I hoped to create an atmosphere of ephemeral tension, a residue of action.

Taking the subway several hours every day for many years has developed in me competitiveness and righteous feelings of entitlement for personal space, and a pessimistic outlook on humanity in general. However, at the same time, it has also nurtured my staring problem/ nosiness / general curiosity about other people/ solidifying perceived personalities into objects. This is reflected in the work’s placement (specifically referring to the works in images 6-16, but relevant to all of my work) of being between there-and-not-there. I/they want to see- but not be seen, disengage from the situation-but are still somewhat present. This is my escape hatch.

Another aspect of my practice involves creating work in the form of printed multiples, in order to bring the relationship with art objects back to the body, and to nurture a place for contemplation and appreciation of the everyday. It is in this way I can engage with others /ignore/escape/disengage on a different, less intrusive or aggressive level. The imagery in my book (which has no title- one of the pages as shown in image 5) was drawn entirely during the snowiest, coldest three weeks of winter in 2014. I felt that the emotional atmosphere I was experiencing was reflected in everyone around me, a shared disgruntlement, and thought it very important information to preserve. Working in the present, artists must be aware of the fact that their work will be subsumed into an endless flow of images. An alternative mode of operating within this information flow is to work in-between the cracks. The way I do this is to turn back to print, which slows instant information. Instead of art being experienced online, it could be experienced through some sort of printed matter, such as a zine/artist book- something accessible. Information is so quick and easy to obtain, and just as effortless to toss away; something with physical matter is harder to pass over.

 

CV

Education

2014    MFA, Visual Arts, School of the Arts, Columbia University

2011     BFA, Printmaking, Pratt Institute

 

Exibitions

2014    

MFA Thesis Show, Fisher Landau Center For Art, Queens, NY

 Group Seeks Like-Minded Individuals, The White Page, Minneapolis, MN

United Against Speculation, LeRoy Neiman Gallery, Columbia University, NYC

Networking Tips For Shy People, 200 Livingston, Brooklyn, NY

 

2013   

Small Wonder, Ground Floor Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

 Noodle Beaches, Fitness Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

 Start as Close to the End as Possible, Torrance Shipman Gallery, NYC

In the Box; a Mobile Experience, Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH

First Year MFA Exhibition, Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia

University, NYC

 Magical Thinking, 200 Livingston, Brooklyn, NY

 

2011    

When We Were Young, LeRoy Neiman Gallery, Columbia University, NYC

Two Year Exhibition, Myrtle Hall Admissions Gallery, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY

 Annual Summer Invitational, Rubelle and Norman Schafler Gallery, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY

BFA Printmaking Thesis Show, Rubelle and Norman Schafler Gallery, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY

2010    Show Me Some Skin…Prints from New York City and Beyond, Sho Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

 

Publications

2014    <no title>, Printed at The LeRoy Neiman Center for Print Studies

2013    Mt DuuM, Issue 3

 

Awards & Other 

2014   

Rema Hort Mann Nomination

Morty Frank Travel Fellowship

Artist Residency, The White Page Gallery

2013   

Glasier Scholarship, Columbia University

Hayman Visual Arts Gift, Columbia University

2012   

LeRoy Neiman Fellowship, Columbia University

Columbia University, School of the Arts, Dean’s Travel Grant