Rick Ponzio

Stone sculptor Rick Ponzio is a native of Kenosha, Wisconsin, now residing in Sheboygan. Rick has exhibited his work at the Niemi Sculpture Park in Bristol, Wis. (2003–2011), at the Zio Verde Sculpture Park in Plymouth (1999–2006), at the Uihlein Peters Gallery in Milwaukee (2004 and 2005), at the Anderson Art Center in Kenosha in juried shows (2003 and 2004) and a solo show (2004), as well as the H.F. Johnson Art Gallery at Carthage College in Kenosha (2004), Lemon Street Gallery in Kenosha, WI for “Rock, Paper, Scissors” (2007), UW Sheboygan’s bi-annual Inside Out Sculpture Exhibition (2008 and 2011), and the UW Sheboygan Fine Arts Gallery (2011). Rick is currently an artist member of Sheboygan Visual Artists and exhibits at the SVA Gallery. While living in Minneapolis, Ponzio received a Forecast Public Art Project Grant. He also exhibited at the Phipps Center for the Arts in Hudson, Wis.; the Paul Whitney Larson Gallery in St. Paul, Minn.; Flanders Contemporary Art Gallery in Minneapolis; Icebox Art Gallery in Minneapolis; the Minneapolis Institute of Arts; and the “Tree Project” Sculpture Park in Minneapolis.

I am a self-taught, primitive, Wisconsin-born sculptor interested in the surreal, the unlikely, the impossible, and the unconscious in my art. My sculptures are Ponziolithic. I am a culture of one. In my work, I am expressing individuality, the uniqueness of being, posture, obsession, and humor. I sculpt directly in the stone and engage in a dialogue, allowing my obsession to interact with the personality of the stone. I prefer to sculpt in calcium-based materials such as marble, limestone, and dolomite. These materials neutralize the effects of acid rain.