Pack Light

Lydia VISCARDI

March 2 – April 15, 2023

I grew up with the stories and images of Catholicism, absorbing both the beautiful and horrific, and emerging with a paradoxical equanimity.  I bring this mysterious balance into my mixed media work, enabling me to comment on the conflicting conventions of nature, human society, especially everyday life, and the human soul.

- Lydia Viscardi, 2023

How far would I travel
To be where you are?
How far is the journey
From here to a star?

“How Deep is the Ocean," Irving Berlin, 1932

RWFA is very pleased to present Connecticut-based artist Lydia Viscardi's first solo exhibition with the gallery. Her work was first exhibited in the 2021 group show Love Devotion Surrender Dedication co-curated with Mary Shah. Appropriately, it was Alyse Rosner who introduced her to the gallery for which we are grateful.

The collage works included in Pack Light are thematically linked through the elements Viscardi gathers and curates to create her imagined worlds. She has stated that her views of heaven are seen from the perspective of our comparatively puny earth which is  populated by all manners of humans and creatures, with spaceships and orbiting jewels in densely packed skies, hanging over landscapes of perfect suburban houses and fields of flowers with girls in gingham dresses traipsing through them. Composed as if the contents of a child's toy chest were transformed into appliqués and spilled out onto a colored paper canvas, her collages are complex mixes of irony with contrasting and conflicting gestures. At once gentle and threatening, they illustrate a playful Apocalypse like a 13th century Book of Hours, where the heavens open and all is revealed. The expanse is infinite. It is best to pack light.


 

Exhibited Works


 

Installation Views


 

CV

Lydia VISCARDI

Education

Undergraduate:

CW Post College, School of Art, LI University, Greenvale, NY    BFA 1974

Toledo Museum of Art School of Design, Univ. of Toledo, Toledo, OH  

Ithaca College, Ithaca, NY

Postgraduate:

William Paterson University, Wayne, NJ    MFA Visual Art, 2006

Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI, summer 2004

Hunter College, NYC

Selected Continuing Education:

School of Visual Arts, NYC

National Academy, NYC                      

Parsons School of Design, NYC

Old Lyme Art Association, Lyme, CT

Center for Contemporary Printmaking, Norwalk, CT

Dieu Donne, Brooklyn, NY

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2023   

Pack Light, Rick Wester Fine Art, New York, NY, March 2 – April 15

2021

Then the Morning Comes, Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT

2020

Here and Hereafter, Five Points Gallery, East Gallery, Torrington, CT

2007

Les Landes, Arts Alliance of Haverstraw, Haverstraw, NY

2005

Lydia Viscardi, 200 East 36th Street Gallery, New York, NY

2004   

Selected Works in Oil and Mixed Media, Blue Heron Arts Center, New York, NY

2002

Lydia Viscardi, Center Gallery at Old Church, Demarest, NJ

2000

Lydia Viscardi, Arts Council of Rockland, Spring Valley, NY

Lydia Viscardi, Rockland County Legislature, New City, NY

Selected Two and Three Person Exhibitions

2023   

The Not so Silent Witnesses: Lydia Viscardi and Rita Valley, The Camp Gallery, Westport CT

2018   

Las Gravitas, ODETTA Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

Internal Vision, Concepto Hudson, Hudson, NY

2008   

New Works, The Terrance Joyce Gallery, Greenport, NY

2007   

Migration, Black Rock Art Center, Bridgeport, CT

2004   

Selected Works, Pomona Cultural Center, Pomona NY

1983   

Three Artists, Burnside Gallery, Greenport, NY

Selected Group Exhibitions

2023   

Alternative Realities, Norwalk Art Space, Norwalk, CT

From Alchemy to Numinosity, Berrie Center Galleries, Ramapo College of NJ, Mahwah, NJ

2022   

Women Pulling Threads of Social Discourse, A Room of Our Own, Camp Gallery, Miami, FL

Waste Management, Upstairs Gallery, Institute Library, New Haven, CT

Spectrum: Serious Fun Art Fair, fundraiser for Planned Parenthood, White Plains, NY

Imagined Spaces, Inhabited Places, Eastern CT State University Art Gallery, Willimantic, CT

Unleashed, AHA Fine Art, Brooklyn, NY

2021   

Cat Daddy,  AHA Fine Art, Brooklyn, NY, curated by Jodi MacDonald

Ham Sandwich, AHA Fine Art, Brooklyn, NY

Viva La Momento Mori, AHA Fine Art, Brooklyn, NY, curated by Alexis Mendoza

Inaugural Summer Salon, AHA Fine Art, Brooklyn, NY

Love, Devotion, Surrender, Dedication, Rick Wester Fine Art, New York, NY

2020   

35 x 35 Project, Copelouzos Family Art Museum, Athens, Greece

2019   

Represented by Concepto Hudson Gallery, Hudson, NY

The Big Show: All Animals Welcome, Drawing Rooms, Jersey City, NJ

Animalia, Ann Street Gallery, Newburgh, NY

Figuration, Walter Wickiser Gallery, New York, NY

Home Sweet Home, Ann Street Gallery, Newburgh, NY

2018   

Represented by Concepto Hudson Gallery, Hudson, NY

#Unload: Pick up the Pieces, Ely Center of Contemporary Art, New Haven, CT

University of Bridgeport and Housatonic Community College Art and Design Faculty Show, Shelfhaudt Gallery, CT

Exchange, Utah Art Alliance, Salt Lake City, UT

Monster, Hans Weiss Newspace Gallery, Manchester Community College, Manchester, CT

Silence Breakers, Ely Center of Contemporary Art with Nasty Woman of CT, New Haven, CT

The Eighties, Concepto Hudson, Hudson, NY

Beautiful Minds, Pop-up Show, Arcilesci Homberg Fine Arts, NEW YORK, NYValentine, Concepto Hudson, Hudson, NY

2017   

Playground, Walter Wickiser Gallery, New York, NY

Second Dream, Pop-Up Show, Arcilesci Homberg Fine Arts, New York, NY

In Grace We Trust, Ely Center of Contemporary Art, New Haven, CT

Nasty Women, Institute Library with Nasty Women of CT, New Haven, CT

Crossing Borders, Burt Chernow Galleries, Housatonic Museum of Art, Bridgeport, CT

2016   

The BIG small show, Victory Hall Drawing Rooms, Jersey City, NJ

FEATURED FLAT-FILE ARTIST: Child’s Play, ODETTA, Brooklyn, NY

One Late Night, Installation, Space B, Brooklyn, NY

Nation IV, Through the Rabbit Hole, Sideshow Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

Aesthetic Allusions, Burt Chernow Galleries, Housatonic Museum of Art and Bridgeport City Hall, CT

2015   

Small Work Sampler, Read’s Art Space, Bridgeport, CT

Parallels, Burt Chernow Galleries, Housatonic Museum of Art, Bridgeport, CT

Reverence for Life, Albert Schweitzer Institute, Quinnipiac University, Hamden, CT

Sideshow Nation III, Circle the Wagons, Sideshow Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

2014   

Seeking Space, The Active Space, Brooklyn, NY

One Plus One, Schelfhaudt Gallery, University of Bridgeport, CT

Smackdown II Immersion Salon, Beechwood Arts, Westport, CT

(A)Muse, Burt Chernow Galleries, Housatonic Museum of Art and Bridgeport City Hall, CT

Beauty and Wonder of Nature, Albert Schweitzer Institute, Quinnipiac University, Hamden, CT

Art/BPT/2014, City Lights Gallery, Bridgeport, CT

Sideshow Nation II at the Alamo, Sideshow Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

2013   

Home Sweet Home, Westport Art Center, Westport, CT

Alumni Exhibition, Power Art Center, William Paterson University, Wayne, NJ

On the Road, Burt Chernow Galleries, Housatonic Museum of Art, Bridgeport, CT

Sideshow Nation, Sideshow Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

2012   

Thick to Thin, Brooklyn Fire Proof, Brooklyn, NY

MIC:CHECK (OCCUPY), Sideshow Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

AiW Norwalk Art Commission Public Art, Norwalk, CT

A Collection of Dissimilar Things, Burt Chernow Galleries, Housatonic Museum of Art, Bridgeport, CT

Animal Life, Blue Hill Art & Cultural Center, Pearl River, NY

2011   

Represented by Geary Gallery, Darien CT

Splash, Housatonic Museum of Art, Burt Chernow Galleries, Bridgeport, CT

Evolution, Housatonic Museum of Art, Burt Chernow Galleries Bridgeport, CT

It’s All Good, Sideshow Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

Seeing Trees, Blue Hill Art & Cultural Center, Pearl River, NY

2010   

Represented by Geary Gallery, Darien CT

Flower (RE) Power, Housatonic Museum of Art, Burt Chernow Galleries Bridgeport, CT

It’s a Wonderful 10th, Sideshow Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

2009   

Art of the Bird, Blue Hill Art & Cultural Center, Pearl River, NY

Dem Bones, Dem Bones, (Curator and exhibiting artist) Carriage Barn Art Center,

New Canaan, CT Continuing Threads and New Voices, Ramapo College of NJ, Mahwah, NJ

2008   

Fish, Carriage Barn Art Center, New Canaan, CT

Journey: Stories My Mother Told Me, The Barnum Museum, Bridgeport, CT

Spectrum 2008, New Canaan Art Center, New Canaan, CT

2006   

First Look 2006 Emerging Artists Series, Visual Arts Center of NJ, Summit, NJ

Blank Canvas, Visual Arts Center of NJ, Summit, NJ

The Season, Arts Alliance of Haverstraw, Haverstraw, NY

Highlight Connecticut, Black Rock Art Center, Bridgeport, CT

Caressing Death (Ribcage) Installation, Warehouse Space, Garnerville Arts Project, Garnerville, NY

Rage Against the Machine, Spire Studios, Beacon, NY

Material Matters II, Power Art Gallery, William Paterson University, Wayne, NJ

2005   

Red is Everywhere, Sculpture Grounds, Rockland Center for the Arts, W. Nyack, NY

Reasonably Straight Digital Photography, Center Gallery at Old Church, Demarest, NJ

Material Matters: Sculpture, Ceramics, Wood, Power Art Gallery, William Paterson Univ., NJ     

Addendum, Ramapo College, Kresge/Pascal Gallery, Mahwah, NJ

2004   

15th Annual Small Works Show, Center Gallery at Old Church, Demarest NJ

2003   

14th Annual NJ Small Works Show, Center Gallery at Old Church, Demarest, NJ

Garnerville Arts Expo, Garnerville Arts & Industrial Center, Garnerville, NY

New Work, Power Art Gallery, William Paterson University, Wayne, NJ

Birds II, an invitational, Edward Hopper House Art Center, Nyack, NY

2002   

The Birds, An Invitational Center Gallery at Old Church, Demarest, NJ  

Garnerville Arts Expo, Garnerville Arts & Industrial Exchange, Garnerville, NY

13th Annual NJ Small Works Show, Center Gallery at Old Church, Demarest, NJ

Glue Too, New Century Artists Gallery, NYC

2001   

Small Matters of Great Importance, Edward Hopper Art Center, Nyack, NY

Contemporary Collage Now, Nexus Gallery, NYC

Getting It Together: Collage Assemblage Society, Center for Digital Art & Community Artists,

Times Square Gallery, NYC      

Glue! (Collage Assemblage Society), New Century Artists Gallery, NYC

2000   

Faculty Exhibit, Rockland Center for the Arts, W. Nyack, NY

Small Matters of Great Importance, Edward Hopper Art Center, Nyack, NY

Landscape – Fauna and Flora, Pomona Cultural Center, Pomona, NY

11th Annual Small Works Exhibit, Center Gallery at Old Church, Demarest, NJ

1998 -1999      

Millennium Exhibit, Pomona Cultural Center, Pomona, NY

Nine Choose Nine, Rockland Center for the Arts, W. Nyack, NY 

Focus on the Figure, Edward Hopper Art Center, Nyack, NY

1996 -1997      

The Multi-Dimensional Shoe Show, Edward Hopper Art Center, Nyack, NY 

Personal Mythology: Faculty Exhibit, Hudson Arts, Tomkins Cove, NY 

If the Shoe Fits, FAO Gallery, NYC

1994 - 1995

It’s Love, Rockland Center for the Arts, W. Nyack, NY

Functional Art, Tomkins Cove Art Center, Tomkins Cove, NY 

Focus on the Figure, Edward Hopper Art Center, Nyack, NY

1981 - 1983 

Graphic Art, Burnside Gallery, Greenport, NY 

Images of Spring and Summer, Burnside Gallery, Greenport, NY 

Closeness and Clash in Art and Life, Terrain Gallery, NYC 

Winter, Burnside Gallery, Greenport, NY 

Prints of the Island, Burnside Gallery, Greenport, NY 

New Drawings in America, The Drawing Center, NYC

1976 - 1979  

Previously Unseen, The Drawing Center, NYC 

Annual Juried Exhibition, The Heckscher Museum of Art, Huntington, NY

Collections

Housatonic Museum of Art, Bridgeport, CT

Copelouzos Family Art Museum, Athens, Greece

Eastern Connecticut State University Art Gallery, Willimantic, CT

Private collections throughout the US and the UK

Awards

2nd Place: Journey: Stories My Mother Told Me, 2008

Barnum Museum, Bridgeport, CT, funded by the National Endowment for the Arts

Creative Achievement in Visual Arts, May 2006

Honors College of William Paterson University, Wayne, NJ

Nomination: Aljira Emerge, Newark, NJ, December 2006

Nominated by Mari D’Allesandro, NJ Center for Visual Art, Summit, NJ

First Look Emerging Artists Series, 2005

New Jersey Center for Visual Art, Summit, NJ, Mari D’Allesandro, Exhibitions Director

Award for Excellence: 15th Annual NJ Small Works Show, 2004

Center Gallery, Old Church Cultural Center, Demarest, NJ

Juror: Anthony Grant, owner, Anthony Grant, Inc. Gallery, New York, NY

Recipient: Vermont Studio Center fellowship, 2003 (postponed)

Award for Excellence: 13th Annual NJ Small Works Show, 2002

Center Gallery, Old Church Cultural Center, Demarest, NJ   

Juror: Robert Koenig, Director, The African Museum of the SMA Fathers, Tenafly, NJ

Honorable Mention Painting: 11th Annual NJ Small Works Show, 2000

Center Gallery, Old Church Cultural Center, Demarest, NJ  

Juror: Jacquelyn Roesch-Sanchez, Director, Montclair Art Museum Yard School of Art

Publicity

WPKN radio interview, 89.5FM, Jan. 24, 2023, Jim Motavalli's show, 89.5FM, WPKN streaming, http://wpkn.org

Hartford Courant, Section 4, Arts &Living, July 10, 2022, Connecticut museums and galleries offering exhibits, pictured: “Maybe Hereafter” by Lydia Viscardi

Newhavenarts.org, Sept 8, 2021, review by Susan Rand Brown

https://www.newhavenarts.org/arts-paper/articles/heaven-hell-and-what-lies-between

The Newtown Bee, Friday, July 9, 2021, Viscardi Celebrating Solo Exhibition in Hartford: Opening Reception July 15

WPKN radio interview, Live Culture with Martha Willette Lewis, June 26, 2021, 89.5FM, WPKN streaming, http://wpkn.org

Artspiel.org, Sept.9, 2020  https://artspiel.org/here-and-hereafter-lydia-viscardi-at-five-points-gallery/

WPKN radio interview, 89.5FM, Sept. 8, 2020, Jim Motavalli's show, 89.5FM, WPKN streaming, http://wpkn.org

Connecticut Post, August 30, 2020, Arts and Style, Confronting our Mortality, Amanda Cuda,

Connecticut Post August 30, 2020, https://www.ctinsider.com/living/ctpost/article/Newtown-artist-s-show-focuses-on-Here-and-15526936.php

Waterbury's Republican American August 28,2020, https://www.rep-am.com/featured/2020/08/28/five-points-four-shows-exhibits-range-from-abstract-to-mixed-media/

New Haven Register, August 18, 2020, https://www.nhregister.com/entertainment/article/Five-Points-Gallery-show-features-works-by-Lydia-15493903.php

The Register Citizen  https://www.registercitizen.com/entertainment/article/Five-Points-Gallery-show-features-works-by-Lydia-15493903.php

Voices, August 26, 2020: Newtown Artist showcased at Five Points Gallery

Artspiel.org, 2018  https://artspiel.org/las-gravitas-at-odetta/

Connecticut Post, Art Bonanza at UB Gallery, Nov. 5, 2015

https://twitter.com/hyperallergic/status/473257044783669248

http://artsinbushwick.org/bos2014/directory/seeking-space/

2014 https://bushwickdaily.com/arts-culture/2353-fashion-in-art-check-out-these-stylish-works-from-bos/

CT Post-Chronicle, Arts & Leisure, “QU's Albert Schweitzer Institute exhibit to showcase “Beauty & Wonder of Nature”, April 2, 2014

Articles.courant, http://articles.courant.com/2014-03-30/community/hcrs-87238-hamden-20140328_1_quinnipiac-faculty-quinnipiac-university-art-exhibit, |John Pettit, March 30, 2014Balanced Rock: The North Salem Review of Art, Literature and Photography, Vol. I, 2013, Mouse that Flies, Concklin’s Orchard Southeast View

Mother-musing.com – Interview

http://mother-musing.com/blog/2012/08/11/lydia-viscardi-rooms-in-the-house/

(An Appropriate Distance) FROM THE MAYOR’S DOORSTEP, ‘The Latest Super Spectacular”, http://www.pirihalasz.com/blog.htm?month=2012-01, Piri Halasz,

Connecticut Post, Pulse, Re-energizing the Flower, Phyllis A.S. Boros, 2010

Newstimes.com, http://www.newstimes.com/default/article/Housatonic-Museum-re-empowers-the-flower-in-Bridgeport 520721.php, Phyllis A. S. Boros, June 11, 2010  

Culture Catch, http://www.culturecatch.com/art/dem-bones, by Margaret Roleke, November 10, 2009

Newtown Bee, https://www.newtownbee.com/05112007/migration-features-works-by-lydia-viscardi-and-thuan-vu/?q=Lydia%20Viscardi

Thursday, January 26, 2006 The Westfield Leader and The Scotch Plains – Fanwood TIMES https://www.goleader.com/06jan26/22.pdf

Rivertown, “Garnerville Arts Festival”, June 2006

Greater Haverstraw Happenings, “Gaga Arts Festival”, Caressing Death / Ribcage, Mixed media installation, 2005, June 2006, Vol. 4, No. 5

Dan’s Papers, “Lydia Viscardi at Blue Heron”, Jan.14, 2005

Bergen Record, Arts & Leisure, “Photography exhibit on display at the art school”, August 3, 2005

Northern Valley Suburbanite, “OCCC gallery hosts Viscardi exhibit”, Arrival and Departure, oil and collage on masonite, 2001, July 5, 2002

The Journal News, Small Scale, Self Portrait as Mary Cassatt, oil and collage on panel, 2001, Sept. 6, 2001

Arts Happenings, August Noon Heat, assemblage, 2000, Nov 2000, Vol. 25 – No. 11

Arts Happenings, Holy Moly, mixed media, 1999, Aug./Sept 2000 Vol. 25 – No. 8/9

Newsday, The Arts & Entertainment, Art Review, “Images of Spring and Summer”, June 14, 1983

The Sun, Arts/Entertainment, “Greenport’s Burnside Gallery: Images in a Variety of Media”, June 2, 1983

Art/World, New York Exhibitions, “Couples”, May 1983

The New York Times, “Images of the North Fork”, August 8, 1982

Sunstorm, “Savoring the North Fork”, Couch Series, silkscreen, 1974, Oct. 1981

The Suffolk Times, “Lively Arts: Burnside Show”, Sept 17, 1981

Newsday, Art Review, “Prints of the Island”, Sept. 11, 1981

Manhattan Catalog, Art Review, “Three Artists”, 1980