Soso Capaldi

I recently had a studio visit where my visitor said my work emits an energy of bliss that happens in childhood that you can never get back. Something like sublime. It’s not just that my work that points, nods, and lawls in the direction of childhood. I speak gently of reparenting myself and trying to actually find out how to know myself and a lot of it is at the root, childhood.

A safe space for me isn’t the same as for everyone else. Mine involves giant legos, multiple 300 pound vats of play dough mixed in a clay mixer, no ugly colors, like dark pink; there is pool noodle wall paneling, creatures strewn about or safely tucked away in their cubby holes. A safe space for me is surrounded with the things I was supposed to grow out of. It is stuffed with some of the remnants of the things that go in another’s miscellaneous drawer.

There is no charcoal or plaster there to disturb my sense of touch. There is hand sanitizer and it’s a party but not a birthday party because that’s so much pressure. It’s just a general party. My friend is making balloon animals in street clothes because clowns are scary. There are streamers and confetti but no noise makers because those are too loud. there’s nothing too loud, there are places to rest. There are no requirements or time limits to any of the activities you may choose to engage in. There are gashapon machines and candy and snacks and booze. There are stickers. There are pom poms and there is a pom pom ball pit and a regular ball pit there is a small inflatable pool with rubber ducks in it and the undersides of the ducks have numbers on them. There are those animal crackers with the jimmies on them and there are those rainbow goldfish.

Heironymous Bosch smiles at me. He’s proud of my garden of earthly delights.

In my work, I use color, pattern, and depictions of creatures to reveal layers of myself to myself. The creatures mimic me in “plays” on paper or clay to teach me about myself. I’m kinder to them than to me, so through them I find a roundabout path to self-acceptance.