Annalisa Iadicicco is a mixed-media artist, recognized for breathing new life into repurposed materials with an ability to transmute reclaimed objects such as corrugated metal, found wood, rusty nails and car bumpers into enchanting yet powerful forms of artistic expression. She is also the founder and artistic director of The Blue Bus Project, a mobile public sculpture that brings artistic expression to the streets of New York City and curates community outreach projects to promote/create community engagement through art. Since its inception in May 2016, TBBP has held a variety of programs in public parks in Harlem, Governors Island, Socrates Park, Jamaica Queens, the Bronx and the Rockaway Peninsula that range from workshops for youth and adults raising awareness on recycling and re-purposing materials, dance performance and video/sound installations, to the collection and distribution of food and clothing for the needy.
From a small village near Naples, Annalisa grew up near Rome and has been “a proud New
Annalisa Iadicicco Photo Paola Beretti
Yorker for the past 20 years. I still keep my strong accent and my southern Italian manners. I can’t help it – that’s me! I come from a family of humanitarians, artisans and musicians. I grew up among art on a farm. Life wasn’t always easy, but I have always been a ‘glass is half-full’ person. And whenever I see something not working, I have to find the way to fix it, or make it better.”
Red Tree (India, 2012). Red Tree is a public sculpture made of discarded, reinforced metal and other materials. The tree, as a symbol of prevention of erosion, is portrayed as broken, but figuratively stitched together by a red cloth to recognize the importance of nature and the need to preserve and respect it. It is an expression of how to connect to one another’s roots in nature in our modern urban landscape. It was created for the Artefacting Global Village 2012 event on the banks of the Brahmaputra river in Guwahati, Assam, India.
QG: You seem to be a passionate activist. What originally inspired that passion?
AI: I’m very passionate about my work, but I don’t really consider myself an activist. I’m an “ARTivist” and through my work, I give voice to social injustice and environmental problems as a means to explore overlooked issues and encourage conversation and social change. I now create art because it’s the only thing I know how to do and my only way of communicating my ideas. I try to communicate my feelings, emotions, and questions about dysfunction in our society and I love when I stimulate emotion and discussion through my work. I love when my work is felt by the viewer because it means that the feeling can stimulate thinking, engagement and even action. Making art is my little contribution to make this world a better place.
I’m inspired by my personal journey and current events, and “found objects” are my creative elements. For me making art has been a healing process. I learned to harness my frustration, anger, anxiety and convert despair into hope by exercising my creativity.
QG: Will you continue The Blue Bus Project indefinitely? Tell us more about it.
AI: The Blue Bus Project is in the process of becoming a not-for-profit organization. The longterm goal is to see various communities purchasing the rights of the mobile art bus for their communities.
Since its inception in May 2016, The Blue Bus Project has held a variety of programs in public parks that range from commissioned workshops for youths and adults, raising awareness on recycling and re-purposing materials, also dance performances, video and sound installations, collection and distribution of food and clothing for the needy. It’s a project that brings together people from all social and economic backgrounds. Through our art projects we give children and adults a platform to express themselves and an opportunity to create art together, build self-esteem and strengthen their community. The Blue Bus Project brings joy, cultivates creativity, and serves as a bridge to connect people with their community.
QG: Do you have any upcoming exhibits or other projects?
AI: I’m creating new work for a show at the end of the year in Italy. In New York I have an exhibition, Plastique4, a collaboration between established Long Island City artists and an LIC plastic manufacturer, at Plaxall Gallery for the LIC Arts Open festival, running from May 15-19.
The following is the calendar of TBBP for the next few months:
June 1: Participatory Art Fair at the Robert Fulton Houses, in Chelsea, hosted by Art Connects NY.
June 18, 20, 27 and July 2 and 12: AHRC in Far Rockaway for L(yrical) P(lay) Release, a five-day interdisciplinary art workshop that engages adults with intellectual and development disabilities.
June 7, 14, 21: A series of intergenerational art workshops at the Ravenswood Houses that will bring together seniors and children to develop artworks to be displayed within the housing development.
July 24: “Re(f) use Me! From Reclaimed Objects to Artistic Treasures” – a series of art-making workshops for all ages that focuses on recycling and repurposing materials into small artistic treasures.
There are more, but as yet, unconfirmed collaborations on the horizon. Follow us on Facebook/Instagram @thebluebusproject
QG: Why do you use reclaimed materials?
AI: I use reclaimed materials that would otherwise have been left to wither and age in anonymity. I like to give those materials a second chance. I love rusty stuff that depicts the transitory nature of life. I grew up on a farm in Italy, but I’m attracted to the corrugated metal and all the materials that you find at a construction site, as my dad was a contractor, and I used to play around those materials in my childhood.
I also do it because I like to get my hands dirty!
I find these humble materials passing a construction site in the city, or on an adventure to an old farm upstate or just walking by a mechanic’s shop. It’s love at first sight, I grab the object and bring it to my studio, where the transformation happens. I enjoy seeing each piece inevitably go through multiple incarnations before it reaches its final state. Each piece of art has its own unique character because there is a story associated with it and an emotional feeling from the found objects.
Stone Angel, for example, is a photograph of a Madonna that I shot at a cemetery. The frame of this photograph is made out of rusty nails and reclaimed wood that I found during a walk in Soho at a construction site, where the construction worker after seeing me collecting nails around his truck presented me with a bag full of nails. I was the most happy woman on Earth. Diamonds wouldn’t have had the same effect on me.
Seek Side-By-Side Silently documents a walk through breast cancer, depicting the emotional turmoil and sympathy pains of a caregiver. It is a sculpture that depicts a woman’s body. The bust is made of a recycled chicken wire and cement in which red pom poms fly around giving the viewer a sense of connection to the human body. Hung around the women’s body there are photographs taken during my mom’s visit to the doctors, printed on a transparent photographic paper and installed on a reclaimed window.
QG: Did you study art formally, and was art your main career aspiration?
AI: I studied photography at the Fashion Institute of Technology, and soon after I launched my career as a location scout and photographer on-set for major movie and television productions such as Spiderman, Rounders, Burning Blue, Law and Order and Law and Order Special Victim Unit and many TV commercials. I soon felt the need to do more and started focusing on my artistic carrier. Since then I exhibited in various group shows here, and in Italy and India. I was part of an art residency in India with the Artefacting team in the Global Village. I was the Spring 2018 artist-in-residence at Materials for the Arts. It was one of the best experiences ever, because I had the chance to share my work with people while creating it. I love studio visits. It’s a fun and interactive experience, and it makes me smile when the viewer is amazed by the transformation of an object into something else.
Driven by the desire to create a movement of artists and believing in the important role that art plays in society, I founded The Blue Bus Project.
Art was not my main career aspiration till later in life. I come from a family of humanitarians, artisans and musicians. I grew up in a small town, Bellona near Naples among curators, artists and gallery owners – friends of my parents. This was my first encounter with art, staring at the work of Picasso, Alberto Burry, Georges Mathieu, and Hans Hartung while playing in the house of Picasso’s tailor, Michele Sapone and his family. It was a happy childhood till I was 11 years old when my dad had to flee Naples and I moved with my mom to Anzio, near Rome. I always felt a little different there, I didn’t feel I belonged there anymore and I decided after graduating from school to come to New York and reconnect with my dad. And that’s when my art career started.
QG: Do you have any upcoming exhibits or other projects?
AI: I’m creating new work for a show at the end of the year in Italy. In New York I have an exhibition, Plastique4, a collaboration between established Long Island City artists and an LIC plastic manufacturer, at Plaxall Gallery for the LIC Arts Open festival, running from May 15-19.
The following is the calendar of TBBP for the next few months:
June 1: Participatory Art Fair at the Robert Fulton Houses, in Chelsea, hosted by Art Connects NY.
June 18, 20, 27 and July 2 and 12: AHRC in Far Rockaway for L(yrical) P(lay) Release, a five-day interdisciplinary art workshop that engages adults with intellectual and development disabilities.
June 7, 14, 21: A series of intergenerational art workshops at the Ravenswood Houses that will bring together seniors and children to develop artworks to be displayed within the housing development.
July 24: “Re(f) use Me! From Reclaimed Objects to Artistic Treasures” – a series of art-making workshops for all ages that focuses on recycling and repurposing materials into small artistic treasures.
There are more, but as yet, unconfirmed collaborations on the horizon. Follow us on Facebook/Instagram @thebluebusproject
QG: What are your immediate, upcoming plans (artistic or otherwise)?
AI: My immediate plan is to build a fundraising campaign for The Blue Bus Project. I need funds to restore the bus and replace the tires. It’s a 1997 bus that needs some love. I do love rusty stuff, but it’s not so good for a moving vehicle. Any help is welcomed. Donations of tires, labor or monetary contributions are appreciated. If you feel close to the work that we do and would like to volunteer you can contact us at thebluebusproject@gmail.com or make a donation through this link: fundraising.fracturedatlas.org/the-blue-bus-project. We are a fiscally sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a 501(c)(3) charity. Contributions are tax-deductible.
QG: Where do you like to hang out, eat, play and anything else, in Queens?
AI: I love to walk through the aisles of Home Depot. I love to bike around LIC, stop at Socrates Sculpture Park and ride around Astoria. I love to hop on the 7 train and stop at Jackson Heights-Roosevelt Ave. for Indian food…I love Indian Food! A great spot for Italian food is Levante, Manhattan vibe with real Italian flavor. LIC Market is always good! I love the veggie sandwiches at Caffeina Espresso Bar; croissants at Cannelle and LIC Corner Café; and Greek food at the Astoria Seafood Market in Astoria.
I play with car bumpers at the mechanic’s shop on 44th Drive and I love to hang out at Local Project Art Space and share ideas with the local artists. A few years back I was part of a community art project sponsored by the Queens Museum at Willets Point. I go there often to visit the remaining mechanics of Willets Point. It feels like being in South America!
I love the ethnically diverse community and the art community in Long Island City. I think LIC has the potential to become the next location for the Art Fair!—Annette Hanze Alberts
This column was originated in July, 2013 by Nicollette Barsamian.
For the full interview, visit QGazette.com.
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