ARTIST STATEMENT
Inspired by nature, consumer culture, and science fiction, Porcella’s work is highly-reflective of his upbringing; his artist mother and physician father made almost everything by hand, which can be seen in his art that celebrates craft, the hand-made, and folk and outsider art. Porcella’s interest in nature and human evolution came from exploring the Sierra Nevada wilderness. Porcella seems to be recalling his earlier experiences in an animalistic call of the wild. By creating paintings, sculpture, drawings and installations from materials such as handmade wax and woven pipe cleaners, Porcella transforms these low-brow materials and elevate them to a high art context, while simultaneously laughing at the human condition and presenting a unique world that is shamelessly awkward and unabashedly comical. Porcella’s work often references art historical movements, America’s rampant consumerism, and alien conspiracy theories, which allows the subjective and strange to penetrate humorous representations of a wildly imaginative reality.
