Courtesy of Madeline Armstrong
Daniel Giordano’s “Hermetic Perversions: A Charming Night With Vicki Vermicelli” is currently on display in Hofstra’s Rosenberg Gallery. Giordano is an internationally-known sculptor who resides and works in Newburgh, New York. He earned his MFA from the University of Delaware and is known for his interesting, different and almost perverse work. This particular display of his is extremely fascinating, and that can be gathered from the title alone. Hermeticism is an ancient tradition and religion that encompassed alchemy, astrology and theosophy. It was extremely mythical and otherworldly. There is also a bit of a story behind the name Vicki Vermicelli. According to an interview Giordano did with The Rib, Vermicelli was Giordano’s aunt. His grandfather named a clothing store after her, called Vicki Clothing Company, which sold women’s coats until 1996. Now, the warehouse is used as Giordano’s exhibition space and Vermicelli is the “spirit entity” of the creative space.
The press release associated with this display is a story about two doctors who met together at night to practice Hermetic rituals. Sometimes they would experiment with astral projection or create effigies for one of them to inhabit.
One doctor lived on land and one in the sea. However, they needed each other to perform the magic they were always practicing. The doctors talked one night about if it was worth all that they were risking and the trouble they felt doing the work they do and if they should have just stuck to practicing medicine. However, in the end they realize that this magic is something bigger and more complicated than they ever thought and could not be given up.
One section of the story really encompasses what this display represents: “He could only look into her eyes and see the Hermetic perversions that would churn the rotation of the earth back to daytime, sunlight tearing the covers off to reveal the rotten sights that bedeviled the dust caked streets, the burdened populace, the scraps of newspaper and Italian banana peels that blew about in the volcano winds.”
The display consists of ten sculptures, each one majestic and unique in its own way. Not only are they made from typical substances like ceramic, wood and glass, but they also use some very interesting materials including Tang drink mix, Tiger Balm, artificial teeth, urine and lipstick.
Some hang on the wall while others stand on a chair or a stack of canned tomatoes. A few are quite complicated and others are very simple, but it is obvious that they are the “hermetic perversions that would churn the rotation of the earth back to daytime.” It is almost impossible to fully understand what each sculpture is meant to represent. One will just have to associate them with the emotions and complicated otherworldly magic put forward in the press release.
This is definitely a work of art to see – minds will be expanded and creative yearnings will be fulfilled. “Hermetic Perversions: A Charming Night With Vicki Vermicelli,” works of art by Giordano, will be on display in the Rosenberg Gallery located in Calkins Hall until Sunday, March 1.
