Metalsmith’s unique creations combine sculpture, furnishing, distinct style

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Excerpts of the Press-Journal
Liccione has cultivated his own distinct style that takes form in chairs, tables, plant stands, love seats, beds, room screens, movie props, timepieces and other interior appointments. - Press-Journal
"People who seek me out are people who are looking for a one-of-a-kind." - Liccione

 by Brian Bixler Press-Journal Features Writer 1997
Sculptor Jim Liccione - "I try out all my designs and artwork and if the art furniture is comfortable I proceed."
... Following similar rules that guided 20th century artists such as Gerrit Rietveld and Ludwig Mies Van der Rohe in their designs of chairs, Liccione has cultivated his own distinct style that takes form in chairs, tables, plant stands, love seats, beds, room screens, movie props, timepieces and other interior appointments. His craftsmanship results in work that is as appealing to Orchid Island homeowners as it has been to New York set designers.

 If you’re a devoted fan of the Guiding Light soap opera, Saturday-night Live or have seen The Cosby Show on television, chances are you’ve seen Liccione’s mastery of steel, iron and wood. In addition to those programs, he’s also produced art pieces for Central Properties in New York for film productions such as The Odd Couple and Sesame Street Show movies, into functional artwork for those with an eye for the extraordinary. In Vero Beach, people who seek me out are people who are looking for a one-of-a-kind, said Liccione, an adjunct faculty member and studio manager at the Center for the Arts. They’re looking for that special table or sculpture that is unique.

Most recently, however, the metalsmith works out, where he molds, pummels, bends and twists iron and steel into functional artwork for those with an eye for the extraordinary.
 

Liccione is an award-winning artist who has achieved notoriety in New York as well as locally. His sculpture and art furniture has been included in group and one-person art shows and art exhibitions from Texas to Rhode Island.
Born in N.Y., he won a scholarship to the prestigious Arts Students League in New York City after winning the Hallmark Award for best exhibition from the Rochester Council of the Arts. As a young artist, he pursued painting and drawing. Liccione later attended the Accademia Di Bella Arti Di Brera in Milan, Italy, on scholarship before receiving a bachelor of fine arts at Florida Atlantic University. In those days, Liccione’s medium of choice was wood and he receives his master’s degree in woodworking from Florida State University in Tallahassee. As a master's degree sculpture student, he discovered the art of furniture-making. "I had an apartment. I had a scholarship with Florida State, but still you’re a student on a very tight budget. So, I decided to build myself some furniture pieces at the school facilities and I just really loved the art," the artist-metalsmith said.

Like many artists, Jim Liccione made a pilgrimage to New York to live. He credits the film industry with teaching him the intricacies of working with metal and art furniture. Today, that training has evolved into highly stylized art furniture and sculpture, created in the traditional sense of using a red-hot forge and sturdy anvil. He also manipulates cold metal with a makeshift piece of equipment usually used by a car mechanic to bend mufflers. "My personal art, I prefer very organic twisted iron work almost baroque in style," Liccione said.

 Metalsmith’s unique creations combine sculpture, furnishing, distinct style

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