Joseph Radoccia’s work moves fluidly across mediums, with a focus on intimacy, presence, and the act of looking. While his materials and subjects have shifted over time, his practice remains rooted in close observation and an ongoing investigation of how meaning emerges through sustained attention.

Early allegorical assemblages explored intimate relationships, while narrative painting addressed identity, love, fear, and vulnerability during the AIDS epidemic. Over time Radoccia shifted from narrative frameworks to a passive observational approach, emphasizing learning through looking, listening, and working directly from life.

As his practice evolved, Radoccia focused on people, expanding his drawing to oversized portraits. These works treat the face as a site of accumulated experience, where interior life becomes visible through gesture, mark, and time. They privilege empathy and vulnerability, inviting both sitter and viewer to engage in sustained presence. Physical likeness serves as an entry point rather than an endpoint, opening onto histories, emotional complexity, and resilience.

Radoccia’s work is held in numerous private collections and the permanent and study collections of the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art. He received a New York Foundation for the Arts Artist Fellowship in Drawing in 2020.

Resume