Art
WOMEN IN ART
Sandra Vucicevic
Sandra Vucicevic is a multidisciplinary
artist and painter, and her work spans
from two-dimensional paintings and
drawings to conceptual, audience-participatory
performances, to her very own
jewelry line.
With a focus on nature and reality,
Vucicevic’s art blurs the line between
the real and the imagined. Her abstract
paintings require the participation of the
viewer’s eye to create a sense of landscape
or cityscape within the canvas.
Vucicevic is inspired by impressionists
such as Monet and Matisse, but her
work straddles the abstract-surrealist
line, sort of like Dali kissing Kandinsky
on the mouth.
Vucicevic started creating jewelry as
a way of promoting her art.
“The jewelry I make is based on my
original art. It includes pendant necklaces,
bracelets, earrings and rings, which feature
images of my original paintings, drawings
and mixed media. However, I also create
tiny paintings and collages directly inside
the pendant blanks,” she explained.
Her unique pieces can be found
on Etsy (www.etsy.com/shop/ARTBYSANDRAV).
Each of these miniature
masterpieces are one-of-a-kind originals
and are created with acrylic paint,
resin, found objects (fish-net, crushed
glass), etc.
Originally from Belgrade, Serbia, she
came to New York in 2005, soon after
graduating from law school. Given the
opportunity, she went back to school
and received her art degree from Hunter
College in 2011. Her studio is part of
the STUDIO 34 Art Community and is
located in Long Island City. Wanting to
be in the center of an artistic atmosphere
and close to Manhattan, Vucicevic found
LIC the perfect choice for her studio
and work.
She believes the art community in
Queens is on its way to become “real.”
“Compared to other neighborhoods
in NYC, it has been mostly unrecognized
48 FEBRuary 2017 i LIC COURIER i www.qns.com
and underrepresented until recently,”
she said. “However, there are many art
movements and organizations now who
are trying to bring big changes. Their
aim is to unite Queens’ artists through
festivals, lectures and events and help
them recognize themselves as a part of
one distinctive art community.”
A few such organizations are the
Queens Art Council, Queens Museum,
Long Island City Arts Open, JCAL,
Astoria Festival and Kew Gardens Art
Council, she said.
Vucicevic is currently working on a
new series of paintings that are created
on found materials and on a group
of round paintings. An independent
filmmaker, Jessica Fejos, is shooting a
documentary about Vucicevic’s work,
which will be aired on Queens Public
Television at a later date.
sandravucicevic.com
Everyone knows that western Queens is home to many different cultures and delicious, diverse
foods. But some people are unaware of its flourishing artistic community, so this month, we decided to change
that by giving some love to some of the artists who make our neighborhood more beautiful. We hope that
reading about them adds some color to the dreary, gray days of winter and gives you some creative inspiration.
By Lora Grilo
Alice Lipping
I first came across Alice Lipping’s
colorful glass ornaments at the Holiday
Market held in Astoria’s Bohemian Hall.
I had to pick up one for myself.
Lipping is a longtime Astoria resident,
and her idea of painting and expression
are not limited to canvas.
“I use my photography as a means
to inform the painting’s aesthetic of
deterioration of spaces and surfaces,”
she explained. “The ornaments were
started after I discovered Alcohol Ink.
The ornaments and tiles are smaller
representations of my larger paintings,
which can be made accessible to people
in my community interested in art.”
Lipping’s textural paintings, tiles,
magnets and glass ornaments are all
multilayered works of art that take a
distressed outermost layer and add a
sense of depth and wonder as to what
might lie beneath.
“I have always been attracted to the
surfaces of things and that its appearance
is because of what is underneath, much
like people,” Lipping said. “It is through
this experimentation with different materials
and layering techniques that texture
has become my signature style.”
Lipping’s work takes inspiration from
Franz Kline’s use of depth as well as
Hans Hoffman and his interaction of
color.
Lipping has shown her work throughout
Astoria and LIC, including the Astoria
Arts Festival, Vesta Restaurant and
Crescent Grill. As a member of Long
Island City Artists (LICA), Lipping has
been involved in exhibitions at Atlantic
Gallery in Chelsea, and group shows at
the Citibank Building, the Falchi Building
and Matted in LIC.
Her work was recently part of a group
exhibition in the Plaxall Building in LIC
through LICA (licartists.org), and she
will be participating in the LIC Arts Open
festival in May.
Lipping’s goal for 2017 is to help put
her studio space, STUDIO 34, on the
map and make the public more aware
of the talented artists who work there.
alicelipping.com
Photos courtesy of Alice Lipping
Photos courtesy of Sandra Vucicevic
