Born in Boston, 1982, and currently residing in Jersey City, NJ , Anne Percoco completed her academic artistic foundation in Rutgers University, from where she graduated in 2008 with a M.F.A. Amongst her accomplishments she includes having completed a fellowship with the Asian Cultural for research and production of new work in India, presenting solo shows at Chitrakala Parishath College of Art (Bangalore, India) as well as NURTUREart and A.I.R. Other works of similar too are Gallery (both in Brooklyn), and ArtBloc (Jersey City). Percoco has been merited for numerous awards, notably a public sculpture commission from the Randall’s Island Park Alliance in NYC, the Bronx Museum’s Artist-In-the-Marketplace Program, and the Foundation for Contemporary Art’s Emergency Grant.
Anne Percoco is a visual artist who seeks to explore themes such as culture, nature, and how life elements like plant life are represented commercially and decoratively in the media.
“As a sculptor, my artistic strategy involves re-contextualizing existing elements: presentation rather than representation. My process is resourceful, responsive, and playful. I spend as much time researching, exploring sites, and scavenging for materials as I do making.” Anne Percoco’s Artist Statement
Percoco’s Work
During her fellowship in India, Percoco worked on a piece called “Indra’s Cloud”. The raft made of plastic water bottles found in the Yamuna River. The objective of this piece was to bring awareness to highly polluted areas of India. Local villages and towns don’t have a proper disposal system, therefore, the majority of garbage is thrown in rivers like the Yamuna.
Terrarium underlines the urban wilderness and biodiversity of the nearby area. During the day, the installation is unassuming however at night it glows brightly. The work also contains a sound element. The droning sound includes hums and tones formed by the background of the sonic experiences of cities, giving a life-like quality to the plants. This project reflects how people undervalue their daily urban environment.
To hear the droning sounds visit: https://terrariumterrarium.bandcamp.com/releases
The Life Instinct was created with scraps and natural resources. This piece shows how people can put their scraps together to make something beautiful and give it a renewed purpose. When this piece was published, visitors we’re able to actually go inside.
Percoco’s project
- Anne is co-collaborating on a project called The Next Epoch Seed Library
- This project consists of a custom set of drawers and shelves that are filled with plant seeds native to the region
- This project was inspired by Indra’s Cloud project and what Anne hopes people can take away from viewing the work she has created.
- This project consists of many activities such as walks, workshops and discussions.
The Next Seed Epoch Library
- In 2015 a collaboration on this project was created by Anne Percoco and Ellie Irons.
- Both artists were working with seeds and weeds when they decided an idea would be to create their own seed library.
- They started off with a small collection that was made from talking walks and collecting seed samples.
- In an Interview, Anne stated “Then, we had the chance to participate in a group show: Intersecting Imaginaries with No Longer Empty in the Bronx. We decided to build a custom set of drawers and shelves into an I-beam in the raw gallery space. The drawers held seed packets, including a special collection from the surrounding neighborhood, and the shelves held seeds in jars and some informational brochures” (Percoco).
- It was this experience that persuaded Anne and Ellie to make their work more accessible and use pop up libraries, exhibitions and venues.
Tree Speech
- In the summer of 2016, Percoco collaborated with Sustainable Jersey City with the project “Tree Speech”
- In the project, trees in various Jersey City neighborhoods were given names and identities. The trees were also able to give their thoughts on their daily lives via Twitter.
- Percoco described her vision behind the project stating: “Both poetic and political, TREE SPEECH will form a virtual ecosystem of interconnected, communicative individuals. This will mirror the fact that trees actually do share information and nutrients through an underground fungal network.”
With Percoco’s collaborative and community-driven Tree Speech project, she presents the theme of personifying nature. Instead of seeing trees as objects, this project views trees as breathing living things with a voice in an ecosystem. The humanization of trees through her art allows communities to empathize and appreciate the importance of objects in nature, especially trees.