The plush sculptures of Lee Pirozzi take a clairvoyant approach to human psychology, insightfully addressing the gulf that separates people’s internal lives from their exterior lives. Since impressionism, artists have been struggling to express the emotive, psychological aspects of life through physical materials like paint and plaster. Pirozzi deals with this problem by bypassing expressionistic marks and metaphorical illusions. She uses fabrics, from glamorous silks and sequins to utilitarian denim, and other textural materials to confront the root of human neuroses: the brain. With the brain’s anatomy as her immediate subject matter, Pirozzi visually captures the muddled, cryptic nature of people’s interior lives. Pirozzi, became fascinated by fabrics as a child. Her intimate relationship to both psychology and textiles informs her tender sculptural treatment of the brain. Low-tech, everyday materials become indicative of life’s intricate complexities when used to depict nerve tissue.

Lee Pirozzi studied art at the University of Georgia and lives and works in South Carolina and Southern Italy.