Material World: Potomac Falls sculptor seeks new ways to satisfy his visions
by Jordan Edwards
June 10, 2009
It's an old joke: If law school graduates practiced law as much as art school graduates produced art, nobody would be practicing law.
Joseph Barbaccia likes the joke, and lived it for more than 20 years. Three daughters and a steady paycheck swayed the Philadelphia native into information graphic design and eventually onto the Web. When his employer, lifescape.com, collapsed in 2001, Barbaccia decided it was a good time to revisit the skills he acquired at Temple University's Tyler School of Fine Arts.
"My girls weren't in college yet," he recalls. "I told myself that I'd give it five years, and if that doesn't pan out, then I'll go back to work full time."
Things did pan out - sort of. Barbaccia works as an art director for ITT Corporation during the day, but converted the garage of his Potomac Falls home into an art studio. The television is gone from the living room, and time is finally on the 57-year-old's side.
"Very few artists will practice what they did in school," he says. "Most of them will probably maintain the feeling or the thought process, but very few will practice. It's a matter of application."
There's some two-dimensional work in Barbaccia's portfolio, but his sculptures are what has heightened his profile in D.C.-area art circles. Audiences in nearby cities like Baltimore and as far away as Miami also have had a taste of what he can do.
"Resonance," a show that ran last month at the Delaplane Art Center in Frederick, featured pieces from a series Barbaccia calls "Integration." A pair of scissors with the blades replaced by a man and a woman's hands represents "Marriage." A bloated stomach, with the artist's own body hair, lodged inside a cheese grater symbolizes "Obesity."
Margaret Dowell, a painter who fashioned a portrait of Barbaccia for the Neptune show, became an advocate when the pair met at Artomatic (now running on M Street through July 5) four years ago.
"He has a very strong wit and a very strong craft," she says. "He's willing to experiment. His mind is always working."
For his latest project, Barbaccia contrasts the blatant social messages of the "Integration" series with a more abstract approach. Combining polystyrene and sequins imported from India, he created a collection of arthropod-like structures that encourage the viewer to look beyond the sparkles. The pieces, Barbaccia says, are more like "grunts" than statements. He believes that the anamorphous structures allow for multiple interpretations. Some, like "Suffering," resemble the pre-vertebrate beings that slithered across the earth before history began.
"They're very sexy," Dowell says. "There's some strong sexual overtones in the series."
Barbaccia acknowledges Dowell's opinion, but that wasn't his intention when he created them. He doesn't even consider the sculptures a series. They just happen to made of the same materials.
"If the pieces are primal, they're going to exude some sensuality," he says.
Perhaps most qualified to discuss Barbaccia's work is J.T. Kirkland Not only is he a tough critic, but the two have been friends for several years. Kirkland's thinkingaboutart.blogs.
com was one of the first D.C.-centric art blogs to hit the Internet when it launched in 2004. Barbaccia was an early reader, and the two exchanged comments online.
"He looks past the sequins and prettiness of it," Kirkland says. "There's something darker underneath. It looks playful, and it looks fun. But it's not."
Although Kirkland enjoys the finished product, he believes that "the magic happens before [Barbaccia] starts pushing pins." The real art, he says, occurs during creation.
Barbaccia maintains a similar stance on the sequined sculptures, but says that the "magic" is often unintentional.
"They come from a place that's chaotic," he says. "They're not preconceived. They just arrive."
Barbaccia's mind, which he compares to a radio tuner, created the shapes without cognitive effort. First, he sketched ideas and made clay models. Polystyrene became an option when he realized the shapes were smooth and flowing. Beadwork created by his wife Candace inspired the use of what the eye initially sees.
"There's something about sequins that's simple," he explains. "The texture began to become interesting to me."
Although Barbaccia has displayed his work at Gallery Neptune before, a solo exhibit in the gallery's original space in 2006, this one is larger. He credits owner Elyse Harrison and architect Michael Belisle for creating an area that caters to artists' needs.
"It's a little bit more than a white box." He says. "Elyse and Michael have designed it so that its walls are flexible to adjust to two-dimensional work and sculptures as well. The windows allow the community to become part of the energy of the space."
Harrison links the pieces of Barbaccia's on display to biology and botany. Initially, she describes them as "from another planet," then reconsiders. "I might be wrong in saying that. They're definitely from here."
She is quick to discuss the depth behind the sculptures, yet also appreciates their aesthetic.
"They're stunning," she says. "He does this so well. It's almost like looking at a fine piece of jewelry."
Next up for Barbaccia is a large-scale show at the Delaware Center for Contemporary Arts. But for the next few weeks, the 13 sculptures at Gallery Neptune will command his attention.
"I don't make any money doing this," he says. "I didn't always get into shows or things like that. Now I do."
Joseph Barbaccia's sculptures are on display through July 4 at Gallery Neptune, 5001 Wilson Lane, Bethesda. Gallery hours are Thursday to Saturday, noon to 5 p.m., or by appointment. The exhibit will be open for the Bethesda Art Walk on Friday, 6 to 9 p.m., and an artist's talk is set for 2 p.m. on June 27. Call 301-718-0809 or visit galleryneptune.com.