Ray DiCapua currently makes large-scale, intricate drawings that investigate the intersections between imagery and processes of perception, recognition, and meaning making, looking to both evoke and disrupt possible patterns of interpretation. His early work included both sculpture and drawing. He wrestled with existential circumstances in modern human experience and was curious about the psychological, political and contemplative tones that specific gestures, archetypal forms and cultural artifacts can arouse. His later work expands on these themes through an interest in the phenomenology of experience as an art making praxis that explores the conditioned aspects of memory, thought and mind.
DiCapua’s exhibition venues include many well-known galleries and museums. DiCapua’s work has been further supported by grants, awards and Fellowships including two MacDowell artist residencies, a Millay Artist Colony collaborative residency and a Vindolanda Roman Fort/Chesterholm Museum collaborative artist residency in Northumberland, UK.
DiCapua has been a faculty member of the University of Connecticut's Department of Art/Art History since 1984 and presently serves as co-coordinator of the 3D and sculpture studies area. From 2004–2014, he served as associate head for admissions and recruitment. In 2014, the Institute for Teaching and Learning named him a University Teaching Fellow, the highest teaching award given to faculty at the University of Connecticut.
