Renee Ricci, BFA
Renee Ricci’s work explores the boundaries and intersections between natural and artificial, inviting others to experience the world through the eyes of a child who has just stepped from one reality to another, and is trying to make sense of it. This new world full of complexity and complication cannot be fixed with the tools she grew up with. Rope, while good for climbing trees and tying knots, is useless when faced with a broken family. A good knife can cut through most things, but not clinical depression. The ineffectual nature of Renee’s recreated knives points to the fact that times are changing and her generation feels woefully unprepared. These handmade tools are built for a bygone era; they appear useful, but they have lost their usefulness in the modern times. These pieces encapsulate the wonder, fear, confusion, and excitement that she experienced growing up, and perhaps leave the audience with a new lens through which to view the world.
