Nicole Leroy
Welcome to Fuzztopia
August 16-26, 2021
Murray 292.2
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC Monday to Friday 11-4
Welcome to Fuzztopia is a multimedia art exhibition comprised of found objects and circuit bent electronics, which have been altered and hybridized to create sculptures of eccentric alien creatures. These creatures are known as Fuzztopians, denizens of a fictional living planetoid, who interact with one another in a society based around dignity, respect, and unconditional love. The central goals of this body of work are to spread joy to its audience, and to encourage them to treat others as the Fuzztopians treat one another. This is accomplished first and foremost through the means of fiction and storytelling. Taking advantage of fiction’s ability to draw in its audience and aid them to empathize with a story and its characters, Fuzztopia serves as an avenue through which its audience can befriend its inhabitants, and grow to understand their unique perspectives. Secondly, the exhibition communicates with the viewing public through the nonverbal visual language of contemporary North American commercial culture. This common, familiar, and ubiquitous aesthetic is fused with blatantly fun and eccentric visual signifiers, inspired by alternative cartooning, experimental video games, and contemporary sculpture. These imaginative elements all coalesce to form an immersive environment of safety and comfort, wherein the audience may become acquainted with and learn from everyday objects that are commonly taken for granted.
Image credit: Carey Shaw
About the Artist
Nicole Leroy is a French-born American artist, whose practice and research focuses on commercial culture. Her work predominantly incorporates found objects and children’s entertainment media, which form multimedia electronic sculptures. Reinforcing this practice, her research revolves around visual and popular culture, as well as the autonomy of readily-available consumer objects.
Her current body of work focuses on constructing the mythology of the flora and fauna of a fictional planet, who manifest themselves in our world through sculptures made of altered children’s toys. As individuals, the sculptures express themselves through movements and vocalizations, which are created by altering the circuitry of electronic toys to produce unintended results. This ultimately results in a collection of works that form an interconnected community of eccentric creatures, who celebrate diversity and pluralism.
