Alina Jolie Puccio: 10 Who Made a Difference in RI in 2024

Alina Jolie Puccio: 10 Who Made a Difference in RI in 2024

The multi-talented Alina Jolie Puccio is an emerging creative star in Rhode Island.

Michael Rose, GoLocal’s art columnist, writes:

Figurative work is having a resurgence in contemporary painting, and for emerging artist Alina Jolie Puccio the figure is central to her production. Raw, well-painted bodies populate her creative space. A recent RISD graduate, Puccio has a new studio on North Main Street and is establishing her practice. A painter, printmaker, and poet, Puccio is a rising talent to watch.

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With so many students departing the state for larger markets after graduation, it is always exciting to see gifted people stick around. Asked why she has decided to let her creative practice take root here, Puccio says, “I feel incredibly privileged to have a studio in Providence, especially so close to where I went to school. One of the main reasons I wanted to stay local was the strong relationships I built with my professors. Being able to have them visit my studio and engage in conversations is something I value greatly. I feel fortunate to be part of a close-knit arts community where I don’t feel lost in a crowd. Providence’s tight-knit environment is something I really appreciate.”

Puccio grew up outside Syracuse, New York and earned her BFA in Illustration at RISD. She also completed coursework in Cognitive Linguistic Psychological Sciences at Brown while in college. Awarded one of five National American Visions Awards for the State of New York while in high school, Puccio also completed a residency at the renowned New York Academy of Art.

Nude and seminude figures are the motif of choice in Puccio’s current work. Her paintings are intense and direct. They are challenging to traditional expectations around naked women in art and expose underlying truths that are highly personal. Stylistically, Puccio’s work is reminiscent of contemporary greats like Lisa Yuskavage or Jenny Saville, while the subtleties of her art belong to her alone. She frequently acts as the model for her own work, adding a layer of intense emotional vulnerability and connection to the art she is creating.

Speaking of how she views her use of the figure, the artist says, “The figure is crucial in my work for exploring the nuances of early sexual experiences and their societal taboos, particularly those intense, unspoken moments we sometimes seek out as children, hidden from adults and before we fully understand what is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. This includes experiences like those in online chatrooms, which were prevalent among my generation, where exploitation often occurs. By depicting my own body, I reclaim control over my childhood narrative, confronting the silence and shame associated with these experiences. This approach allows me to delve into the power dynamics and personal impacts of such moments, challenging simplistic labels of victimhood and offering a deeper exploration of agency and self-perception.”

In Puccio’s work, a palette of soft pinks, purples, and blues underscores her subjects. She also plays with scale. On two walls of her studio, a trio of current paintings includes wall-sized characters that look down on their viewers. In the opposite corner, intimately sized monoprints, etchings, and oils show off the facile hand she makes use of when making this work. In a series of small studies that zoom in on the body, carefully depicted folds of flesh are executed with expert brushwork.

In addition to working visually, Puccio also writes. In her thoughtfully curated studio, scraps of paper with prose and poetry are tacked up alongside artworks. During a recent studio visit, she produced an exquisitely bound volume of her poems interspersed with her art and leafed through it carefully.