Hailing from The South Bay Los Angeles, Dino Capaldi draws from an eclectic group of influences ranging from natural and man-made landscapes, surfing, punk, graffiti, West Coast Ceramics and the California Clay Movement to create sculptural ceramic works that evoke the coastal landscape of his hometown. Drawn to the materiality and history of ceramics, his work sits astride conventional and abstract forms.
Capaldi’s thesis is a survey created over the past year and presented as three bodies of work. The “Pools” were created as abstracted representations of a ruined concrete structure discovered on the coastline of San Pedro, CA. The exteriors of the forms mimic the structure that is believed to be an old military gun emplacement but has since decayed leaving just a large concrete circle and rusted metal spikes. The broken ceramic shards and melted glass placed inside the objects’ interiors references the pooling water and coastal debris that now inhabit the space. Capaldi also sees the interiors as references to coastal landscapes themselves.
The “Outcrops” are the most recently created works. Capaldi sees these pieces as being influenced by his time spent on the rugged Northern California coast. He refers to them as outcrops in reference to the large rock structures that occupy the coastlines of Marin, Sonoma, Mendocino, and Humboldt. These works are intentionally overfired to the point of collapse, embracing the serendipitous nature of ceramics along with chaos and failure.
The final series “Beachcomber” is a collection of smaller works presented on a low platform simulating the experience of gazing down as one strolls along an intertidal zone, searching for interesting objects or specimens. Capaldi’s pieces are suggestive of many different forms or creatures one may encounter in this landscape but are not grounded in any reality instead inviting the viewer to provide their own interpretation.
Website: dinocapaldi.com
Instagram: @dinocapaldi
