DRIP-DROP, TICK-TOCK, HERE + NOW

Drip-Drop, Tick-Tock, Here + Now

Joseph Fucigna’s one-person exhibition, Drip-Drop, Tick-Tock, Here + Now has had a few bumps on its journey to the Burt Chernow Galleries. The original show, Drip-Drop, Tick-Tock, was scheduled to open at the Housatonic Museum of Art in September 2018. Due to water damage from a fire above the gallery, the exhibition was canceled a week before the opening. The show was rescheduled for September 2020 and was postponed a second time due to the COVID virus. It is ironic how the original title, Drip-Drop, Tick-Tock, seems to have anticipated the circumstances of the show cancellations. Drip-Drop for the water damage and Tick-Tock the ticking time bomb of COVID.

With a three-year gap between the original 2018 show and the October 2021 opening, the exhibition can be considered a brief survey of sculptures and paintings starting from 2010 to the present, with emphasis on new works created since 2019. Throughout his career, Fucigna has enjoyed taking modest industrial materials and transforming them into elegant yet provocative abstractions. His sculptures, paintings and drawings are rooted in process, play, and the innate qualities of the materials. Through experimentation, and innovation, Fucigna creates works that are known for their power to transform materials, ingenuity, and odd but compelling subject matter. The ultimate goal is to create an artwork that is a perfect balance between suggestive content and the formal qualities of the materials that allow both to be active participants.