ALL IN THE FAMILY: CONNECTICUT’S TERRIZZI-BRICHERS

ARTISTS PROFILE
THE TERRIZZI-BRICHER FAMILY

by Kristin Nord

Not too long ago, the South Kent household of Terrizzi-Bricher served up a sumptuous mix of color, texture, warmth and light, at a time of year when the Connecticut woodlands are a sea of greys, sepias and ochres. Matisse would have happily sunk into the deep pink upholstered chair in their cozy yellow living room, or embraced the presence of light in Scott Bricher’s studio.

Scott Bricher sees himself as a primarily figurative oil painter, steeped in an awareness of art history and influenced by studies first at Parsons School of Design but later with Nelson Shanks at the Art Students League. The monumental scale of these narrative works-in-progress made me think immediately of Thomas Hart Benton or Diego Rivera, and I left eager to see where the work will take him. Memories, images and ideas drawn from his unconscious play a part in the conception of his storytelling, and objects drawn from an Ohio childhood often factor in. In a painting completed a number of years ago, my eyes were drawn to a child’s incense burner in the shape of a log cabin, a cocktail measuring cup and a glass jar with ribbon candy, icons that resonate for so many of us and are part of our family stories.

If these works feel far away from the freelance assignments he takes on for Sam Viviano, the art director at MAD Magazine, or for the art department of Crew Design, a Connecticut firm specializing in sustainable retail merchandising solutions, they should, for Bricher is also a master of 3D design and Photoshop. Glenn Carlin, president of Crew Design and a classmate of the couple at Parsons, described Bricher as a bona fide poly-math, while his editor at MAD Magazine said he has known with each and every Photoshop assignment that Bricher would elevate the original idea. Bricher designed the Captain Morgan statues we encounter in liquor stores, seemingly with the same pleasure he had spoofing the meals of a well-known chain restaurant.

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