Mia Capodilupo

Using media ranging from steel to video to food, my work explores the simultaneous human desire for the intense fear of intimacy in both a sexual and emotional sense, addressing the body in a visceral way through my choice of materials and by creating objects that interact with and influence it. The element of touch plays an important role in the work as I examine the tension between our intense hungers and desires and our need to be in control and independent. The idea of drawing in the viewer and also pushing him/her away is central to my work. Because I am interested in these issues, my work has often incorporated food and eating. I feel that eating is an arena in American culture that is both central to the culture and where people play out these anxieties surrounding intimacy and control in a very visible way. I also often use fabric due to its association with touch and intimacy, and plaster, steel and rubber to reference the history of sculpture and construction.

Another important component of my work is its discrete parts the come together but maintain the integrity so that the piece can easily be dismantled or reconfigured. For the past two years I have approached materials like letters or symbols of a language, and have used the same vocabulary of materials and objects to create different works. Re-using the same materials over and over again is both economical and provides helpful parameters in which to make my work. It also again references the body in terms of the body’s cycles of growth, decay and regeneration in which everything has a purpose and is reused.