CONTACT
art@biancavalenciacriscuolo.com
(203) 331-2676
Bianca Valencia Criscuolo, raised in the small country town of Easton CT, moved to NY for school and spent her early 20s living in Brooklyn NY attending PARSONS School of Design as an Illustration major with a scholarship from The Beijing Contemporary Arts Foundation for excellence and additional studies in Mandarin Chinese and East Asian art. Her interest in the fine artworld broadened through her time as Curator with the Contemporary Art Modern Project Galleries. Working events like Volta, Hamptons Art Fair and Art Basel New York. Through this She developed a passion for cultivating fellow artists and she went on to have her first solo show at 25 [Beyond the Veil; Exploring the Tensions Between], co-leads her local artist guild, and is an integral member of ‘Call to Gather’ a Manhattan based artist guild cultivating flourishing artists and creating public access art empower all people to return to creative play. She has had the privilege of working on projects with artists/designers such as Makoto Fujimura, Clara Fialho, Guang-Yu Zhang, and Esther Mun.
Upon graduating with a BFA from PARSONS, Her dedication shifted from self exploration to bridging a gap between the divine and the physical. She believes deeply in the pursuit of truth, beauty and hope in the midst of darkness, with an emphasis on a reimagining of the sublime. Her work was further developed as she found transformational vision through her Ambassador work with India based nonprofit Embers International as an Artist Advocate against human trafficking, as well as her instructor training with the (IAM) International Arts Movement; Academy Kintsugi culture care initiative to preserve the art of kintsugi and its philosophy of beauty in brokenness.
Her studio space is currently at The Knowlton in Bridgeport CT, where she enjoys the collaborative creative community of other local artists and traveling nationally to speaking engagements on the Beauty and Importance of Art Beyond the Self and The Innate Healing Power of Creativity.
Vision: truth and dreams.
My work emerges from a conviction that art must reclaim the sublime in a generation marked by nihilism and apathy. The works themselves seek to reveal the beauty and hope that coexists with darkness. The abstract landscapes; treacherous and unforgiving-- the tragic figures; melancholy and woeful—but the longer you look the work whispers of something more. A realm beyond the one you sit in, something organic, natural, and full of the bewildering spirit of life.
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Working within the language of surrealism and nonlinear narratives, I explore the intersection of dreams, the transcendental, and the ontology of the self. My practice responds to the aesthetic energy of abstract expressionism, where the gesture of the artist's hand remains highly evident in the final composition. These works function as lamentations to the sublime, investigating theological cosmology and the primordial act of making in its origins.
I believe artists innately echo ancient creation stories—the knitting of beauty from chaos, pain, and darkness. Rather than offering directly introspective or identity-based statements, the works carve out portals for the viewer to experience the spiritual and perhaps provide a moment of respite by way of an offering to hope.
My artistic process reflects what I describe as a "marriage" between painting and poetry—not twins, but distinct forms that find and offer purpose in witnessing to each other's presence. This relationship embodies the tension between raw materiality and the search for meaning, allowing each medium to retain its individuality while contributing to a unified dialogue with the viewer. The visual "face" of the painting and the "voice" of the poem guide exploration and invite conversation, creating a deeply personal and dialogical experience.
Through this pursuit of truth and beauty amidst darkness, I hold to the belief that "hope is a discipline; without hope and vision for the future, the burden of existence and the darkness of the world is truly unbearable. It is hardship and struggle that gives purpose and grounding to being—it is in these trials that we rise, propelled by the call to something more than the self."
Dutch philosopher and theologian Robert A. Veen has characterized my approach at times as “a rebellion against contemporary art; the philosophy of Romantic art in the language of the abstract.” and in his 2024 article titled ‘Levinas and Criscuolo’ said that "The artwork simultaneously resists and invites meaning…Perhaps this tension itself – between guidance and discovery, between the inevitable and the hoped-for – is precisely the point."
This rebellion against contemporary philosophy is not mere opposition but an active pursuit of something more than the self, a call to adventure, an invitation for viewers to engage with the transcendental and discover their own capacity for hope within the sublime.
