Viorica Colpacci

Viorica Colpacci was born in Romania and emigrated to the United States in 1977. She graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts “N. Grigorescu” in Bucharest and continued her studies in New York, at the Pratt Institute, Brooklyn College and New York University, from where she earned a MA in Studio Art.

Her early works include ceramic sculpture, paintings, icons, alfresco murals, architectural design in ceramics and porcelain as well as industrial design in ceramics, glass, stainless steel and plastic. After 1977, in the U.S., she created abstract sculptures in ceramic, bronze, welded and painted steel, light sculpture, digital prints, photography, fashion and industrial design.

In sculpture her primary concern for more than twenty years is to represent the spiritual dimension of life, using modern technology and materials. She uses welded steel and light as physical, metaphorical and metaphysical elements.  

She taught art in New York City public schools and had many exhibitions in the U.S., Canada, and Europe. She participated in international conferences, published essays on art and runs an art gallery showing in alternative spaces.

She founded a sacred art workshop for children in Bucharest.

Lives and works in New York and Bucharest

In 2005 the art critic Ed McCormack wrote about her work:

"...Few however, have integrated color as thoroughly subtly with sculptural forms as Colpacci does ...But what makes these works even more magical is Colpacci's use of radiant rainbow like red, yellow, green, blue, orange and purple hues with the same fluorescent quality as the colors in her digital prints. These chromatic elements seem to lift her steel forms out of the physical realm, lending them an ethereal beauty unlike anything else in the contemporary sculpture... Viorica Colpacci's recent exhibition presents an innovative artist at the height of her powers…"

(Ed McCormack, “The Edenic Visions of Viorica Colpacci at East-West Gallery”, in Gallery and Studio, Nr. 5, 2005, p. 5.)

SOLO SHOWS:

2018               Galeriile Orizont, Bucureşti - click here

2015               Romanian Cultural Institute, New York - click here

2012                Spiritus Gallery, Metropolitan College of New York, New York, NY

2011                Spiritus Gallery, Retrospective, New York, NY

2009                Spiritus Gallery, New York, NY

2005                East-West Gallery, Romanian Cultural Institute, New York, NY

2004                Romanian Institute of Orthodox Theology and Spirituality, NY

1990                New York University, New York, NY

1985                Millhouse-Bundy Fine Arts Center, Burlington VT

1983                Departure Gallery, Madison Ave., New York, NY

1982                Mari Galleries of Westchester, Mamaroneck, NY

1975                Caminul Artei, Bucharest, Romania

1973                Atelier 35, Bucharest, Romania

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS:

2018

Lui Eminescu, Arte la Muzeul Satului de Ziua Culturii Naţionale, Bucureşti

2015

Spiritus Gallery, Romanian Institute of Theology and Spirituality, New York, NY

2013               

Spiritus Gallery, Romanian Cultural Institute, New York, NY

Spiritus Gallery, Romanian Institute of Theology and Spirituality, New York, NY

Spiritus Gallery at the Metropolitan College of New York, New York, NY

2012               

Spiritus Gallery. Romanian Consulate, New York, NY

2010               

The Art of the Spirit - Tradition and Modernity, Spiritus Gallery at the Metropolitan College of New York, New York, NY

The Art of Human Rights, The Illinois Institute of Art, Chicago, IL

2008               

Metal-Morphosis, Ernest Rubenstein Gallery, Educational Alliance, NYC

Cult and Culture, Spiritus Gallery at the Romanian Consulate, New York, NY

Art and Religion, Spiritus Gallery, Romanian Consulate, New York, NY

Spiritus Gallery, Romanian Institute of Theology and Spirituality, New York, NY

2007               

49th International Exhibition, Museum of the Living Artists, San Diego Art Institute, San Diego, CA

The Illinois Institute of Art Chicago, Chicago, IL, All Media National Juried)

2006               

Abstraction VIII, Upstream People Gallery, Online Juried, International

Rivaa Gallery, New York, NY

Ernest Rubinstein Gallery, Educational Alliance, New York, NY

East-West Gallery, Romanian Cultural Institute, New York, NY

2004              

ArtCrave Galleries, International Annual Juried Exhibition, Online

2000 – 2006   

Artist/Teacher Exhibition, Broome Street Gallery, Soho, New York

1999 - 2006    

Artist/Teacher Exhibition, Cork Gallery, Lincoln Center, New York

2005               

Gallery International, All Media International Competition, Baltimore MD

Open National Exhibition, Long Beach Arts, Long Beach, CA

Project30's, Online Exhibition

Snap to Grid, Los Angeles Center For Digital Art, LA, California

2004               

Gallery@49, New York, NY

Art Crave Galleries, Brooklyn, NY, Annual Juried Exhibition,

The Times Square Gallery, New York, NY

1998               

The 5th Pleiades Invitational Show, Pleiades Gallery, Soho, New York, NY

1997               

Homage to Light, Fine Art Reflection, Montreal, Canada

1983 -1993     

National Association of Women Artists, The Federal Building New York

1986               

San Juan Gallery, San Juan, Puerto Rico

1985               

2nd International Shoebox Sculpture Exhibition, The University of Hawaii Art Gallery Honolulu, HI

Ava Gallery, Hanover NH

Gallery 2, Woodstock, VT

1983 -1985     

Sculpture Center, New York, NY

1985 - 1990    

Sculpture Guild Annual Show, Lever House, New York, NY

1984              

National Association of Women Artist Show, Lever House, New York, NY

18th International Competitive Art Exhibition, Galesburg Civic Art Center, Galesburg, IL

Bergen Museum, Paramus, NJ, Annual Juried Show

Gallery 2, Woodstock, VT

9th Annual National Art Exhibition, Milford Fine Art Council, Milford, CT

1983               

53rd Annual Juried Art Show, National Art League, New York, NY

Bergen Museum, Paramus, NJ

1982               

Departure Gallery, Madison Ave, New York, NY

1981               

Women in Design International Competition, San Francisco, California

Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts, Pennsylvania State College, PA

Jubilee 50 National, Currier Gallery, Manchester, NH

Marietta National, Marietta College, OH

1979               

The Store Gallery, Verona, PA

2nd Rivers Gallery, Binghamton, NY

Horizon Gallery, Mill Valley, CA, Juried National Show

WOR-99X Christmas Benefit Show, Cooper Union, New York, NY

1979 - 1981    

Rhinebeck Northeast Art Fair, Rhinebeck, NY

1977               

Museum of Art , Galati, Romania

Triennial Exhibition of Decorative Arts, Bucharest, Romania

Museum of History, Bucharest, Romania

1976               

4th National Symposium of Ceramics, Curtea de Arges and Bucharest, Romania

1975               

3rd National Symposium of Ceramics, Alba Iulia and Bucharest, Romania

1974               

32nd International Competition of Contemporary Artistic Ceramics, Faenza, Italy

16th International Competition of Decorative Arts, Perugia, Italy

1st International Quadrennial of Decorative Arts, Erfurt, Germany

Galeria Eforie, Bucharest, Romania

Sighetul Marmatiei Symposium Show, Atelier 35, Bucharest, Romania

1973               

Galeria Art'Ind, Bucharest, Romania

Triennial Exhibition of Decorative Arts, Bucharest, Romania

Decorative Arts Show, Museum of History, Bucharest, Romania

Galeria Noua, Bucharest, Romania

Symposium of Design, Bucharest, Romania

1972               

2nd National Symposium of Ceramics, Sighisoara, Romania

Galeria Art’Ind, Bucharest, Romania

Piatra Neamt Symposium Exhibition

MONUMENTAL WORKS:

1970                Prometheus, al fresco painting, 18 ft tall, High School Nr. 24, Bucharest Romania

1977                Decorative Modular Wall, porcelain, 10 ft tall, Private Collection, Bucharest, Romania