Nicole Mazza
Nico is a textile artist based in Rosario, Argentina. She was born and raised in Gainesville, Florida and received her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2008. She moved to Buenos Aires in 2014 to dance Argentina Tango and dedicate time to her art practice. She is currently represented by Crudo Arte Contemporáneo in Argentina.
Nico works with embroidered, sewn and hand-dyed fabrics to create figurative works. She integrates strong pictorial and sculptural resources in a baroque, poetic narrative that raises questions about the construction and deconstruction of the body. She often references religious and medieval paintings, as well as soap operas and pop culture that she sees as studies of the human condition at different points in time. She stitches together dream-like landscapes formed from memories, family histories and fantasies, often juxtaposing the delicate practice of needlework with characters who negate socio-political norms of femininity. Her works are aesthetically beautiful, but there is darkness there. There is violence in the way that thread meets fabric, that needle penetrates fabric.
The exposed and visible suture that forms a line. A line like a stroke that draws a path without camouflages. A reinforced seam for high stress areas. A stitch that recedes from your direction. A misstep or on purpose. A boost of expressive power. A rare break in cottons. A spill of blood and flowers on the percale.
Sewing is an act of mending something that has been ripped apart, but sometimes that there is no turning back. Nico’s figures are often contorted: bodies in positions of discomfort and impossibility. Limbs are intertwined, wrapping, reaching and wanting. Her figures are like actors on a stage playing out fantasies and situations that push the bounds of reality.
