Lydia Ricci builds a messy miniature world out of scraps – and it’s huge
For Lydia Ricci, a broken pencil, outdated forms, bills paid long ago and tattered fabrics are the primary materials for her carefully designed little world. The artist credits her parents’ obsession with collecting with the beginning of her development into a scrap-centric process.
“My mother was an immigrant from Ukraine who could improvise anything when we didn’t have exactly what we needed (most of the time). And my Italian father never threw anything away because one day it might be useful or one day he might get around to fixing it,” she wrote.
Today, Richie pieces together scraps and tchotchkes collected over the past 30 years that many other artists might throw in the trash. Cardboard, candy wrappers, vintage glasses, and more all form uncanny miniatures, which she calls “observations of things people desire, complain about, or contemplate. Brief, unscripted exchanges—of the mundane but deeply human—are a constant source of inspiration.”
The resulting sculpture is detailed and playful, retaining a messy, raw quality that is itself a collection of original materials. Rather than covering up irregularities and signs of wear, Ritchie left traces of chaos and disorder, capturing the true quality of modern life.
Find more of this artist on Instagram.
