Julie Peppito

“I combine reused objects with craft media to transform the waste of our culture into objects of strangeness and beauty. The sculptures, tapestries, and installations are about oneness, repairing the Earth, and the human condition. I see the potential in almost everything that I’m about to throw in the trash, that litters the street, or lines the shelves of thrift stores. I have been collecting unwanted cast-offs from consumer culture for 40 years and transforming them into mutant forms that mimic the wonder, beauty and grotesque qualities of nature. I create sculptural narratives by wrapping, sewing and smashing together old toys, mangled cutlery, and bejeweled knick-knacks with wire, electrical cords and other binding materials. So many of the objects I use have stories to tell; bewildered eyes of broken figurines peer out from thick drips of paint and plastic game pieces stuck to branches emerge from a typography of beads, detailed patterns and graphite lines. These fantastical forms are metaphors for my overwhelming feelings about the climate crisis, politics and being human.”

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Julie Peppito creates creature-like sculptures, layered tapestries, and large installations out of reused materials. The hybrid forms are about oneness, value, and the human condition.

Peppito holds an MFA with a concentration in sculpture from Alfred University in Alfred, NY (2004) and she received her BFA from The Cooper Union in New York, NY (1992). Peppito’s work has been the subject of 10 solo exhibitions. She has exhibited at many New York non-profit and commercial galleries including: Kentler International Drawing Space, curated by Charlotta Kotik, The Long Island Children’s Museum, Heskin Contemporary, Art in General, PS122, Momenta, and Ethan Cohen Gallery, among others. Peppito received a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Sculpture (2001). You can see her playground art at J.J. Byrne Playground, James Forten Playground, and other Brooklyn playgrounds.

In 2022, Peppito created a “bird condo” that was on display at the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens as part of the exhibit “For the Birds”. Will Heinrich from the New York Times described the mosaic encrusted birdhouse as a "tall and extravagantly welcoming...14-foot pile of found objects and concrete." Her work has been on the cover of The New York Times Metro Section, in The Daily Beast and other publications. She's been interviewed on CBS Sunday Morning and on NY1. The artist’s most recent solo show was at Montserrat Gallery in Beverly MA, curated by Lynne Cooney (2022). She is represented by The CAMP Gallery in Connecticut and Florida. Peppito creates, teaches art and lives in Brooklyn, NY with her partner (comic book artist) Gideon Kendall and their son.