1936–2025
Richard Diebenkorn taught Salvatore Pecoraro at California College of Arts and Crafts in the mid-1950s. He rarely demonstrated anything, but near the end of one term he walked over, tapping out a cigarette, and said: “I think you are getting it.” Pecoraro remembered the corduroy jacket with the patched leather sleeves for the rest of his life.
Fifty years later, and named for the Santa Cruz creek near his studio, the Branciforte Constructs answer Diebenkorn’s Ocean Park paintings in three dimensions. Layered acrylic, transparent glazes, Plexiglas, and raised architectural elements build compositions with real depth rather than depicted depth — the language of painting turned into objects that occupy space. The largest of the series is nearly six feet tall.
