Victoria DeBlassie was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico and she is now based in Florence, Italy. Like an ethnoarchaeologist, DeBlassie mines her immediate surroundings to discover material remains and detritus and what these findings say about contemporary life,...
Read MoreVictoria DeBlassie was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico and she is now based in Florence, Italy. Like an ethnoarchaeologist, DeBlassie mines her immediate surroundings to discover material remains and detritus and what these findings say about contemporary life, cultural values, and their relationship to history. She recontextualizes discarded objects and materials to create art that suggests the excessiveness of material culture as well as change and development over time. Using the refuse’s innate history, form, and function as a point of departure, she applies various craft processes to reformulate the acquired matter’s identity. Because pieces of contemporary culture—useful within society at a particular moment—decrease in value because they become useless, scrap, overused, out of fashion or out-dated, it is vital to accentuate the cultural and ecological value of the hand-made and creative reuse of materials in the manner in which she’s currently engaged—by collecting trash, by searching through our ever-amassing mass to unearth and create a novel kind of vitality.
After receiving her BFA from the University of New Mexico in 2009 and MFA at the California College of the Arts in 2011, DeBlassie was awarded a Fulbright grant to Italy as well as a Berlin Fulbright Seminar Travel grant to further her artistic research. Victoria has participated in numerous residencies including Hangar.org (SP), Bridge Art Residency (IT), Vis à Vis Fuoriluogo 23 (IT), Borgo Museo: Castagno di Piteccio (IT), La Portineria (IT), UNIDEE, Sustaining Embedded Art Practice (Curated by Andy Abbott) (IT), Ritorno alla Normalità (curated by the Cartavetra Gallery) (IT). Recent solo exhibitions include Viscosità Spagiriche at Finestreria (IT), and Milk Cake: Il Rinascimento Sospeso Cremisinamente at Latte Project Space (IT). Her latest group selected shows include Aesthetica Art Prize 2022 Exhibition at York Art Gallery (ENG), 100x100 Esposizione Libri d’artista (Curated by Alessandra Scappini and Spela Zidar), Sincresis and Museo Marino Marini (IT).When DeBlassie is not making her artwork, she is teaching art at Florence Institute of Design International, University of Chester, and M.U.S.E.
