Vickie Pierre was a recipient of the 2017 South Florida Cultural Consortium Award, representing Miami-Dade County. In 2019, she was selected as one of ten artists in the sixth annual Orlando Museum of Art, Florida Prize. Her artworks have been included in numerous exhibitions, including Perez Art Museum Miami, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C., Boca Raton Museum of Art, Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach and Museum of Contemporary Art of Puerto Rico, among others. In 2023, the artist was selected by the Art in Embassies Program to have her artworks displayed within the U.S. Embassy in Prague, Czechoslovakia. In the Fall, the artist will also participate in a group exhibition at Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, Miami, FL. Pierre’s artworks can be found in private and public collections. The artist was born in Brooklyn, New York. She lives and works in Vero Beach, Florida.
Artist Statement:
My work is informed and inspired by memory, fantasy, surrealism, popular culture and the decorative and ornamental arts. My continued focus is on the exploration of identity and ethnicity; my connections with my Haitian heritage, the Caribbean and Europe, as well as broader global cultural mythologies. Concurrently, my work considers multilayered feminine and historic tropes relative to contemporary social and cultural realities. This inspiration has manifested itself in years of collecting diverse materials that often serve as muses in my daily practice and as physical elements within my assemblages and installations.
The objects used in the assemblages and installations are mass produced home decorations and gender-loaded collectables, namely, vintage Avon perfume bottles in the shape of hooped skirts and petticoats from the 18th through early 20th centuries. The upper segment (head and torso) of the perfume bottles (dresses) are often separated, a nod to surrealist artists, such as Louise Bourgeois and Hans Bellmer. This action also represents the deconstruction of historic feminine tropes. The glass bottles are vessels of scents but they also represent women as vessels themselves. The bottles paired with elaborate wall sconces and resin wall art that are manipulated and cut intentionally reflect a historic period in their design. All of these elements, including bead strands, doll hair, and flora and fauna connect me to my personal history and memories but also to a broader cultural history of European imperialism and colonialism throughout the world. The combination of these re-contextualized objects along with the titles and texts (stemming from song lyrics and artist musings) constructs a non-linear narrative that continues the inner dialogue and query of identity and cultural socialization. Alternately, the compositions allude to biological and botanical structures, bringing the outside world inside, while maintaining base sentiments of whimsy, femininity, sensuality, beauty and decadence.
The text and titles used in the artwork usually stem from song lyrics, from music I may be listening to while working. The text used at times can be affirming. It is for me first and foremost. It is a recording. It's beneficial if the viewer receives the same sort of affirmation and feels a sense of empowerment from it. This is very much an integral part of my process and the work. Sometimes it has a romantic, sensual or melancholy sentiment. Other songs may feel a bit more ethereal, otherworldly and futuristic. It has to evoke a certain feeling for me that is intangible, just a feeling that is appropriate for the piece I'm working on. Sometimes, I return to the same song over and over so that I may sit in the moment perpetually while creating, in an almost trancelike state.
I'm always considering or commenting on my personal experiences and interests while navigating / existing in this world with all of its social or political issues. At times my work naturally intersects on some level or another with the social/political, it's unavoidable, and other times the result is more serendipitous. My intention is always to create work that is honest and authentic to me, that moves me forward on a path of personal growth and understanding of my place in the world / universe.
