WilliamPettit.com

William A. Pettit III. Brief Bio

William Albert Pettit III received his Bachelor degree in Poetry and Studio Art from the University of Pittsburgh, and his Master of Fine Arts in Painting from Tyler School of Art. William Pettit's paintings have been shown in Philadelphia, Paris, and Rome since 1996. He is a professor of Studio Art at the John Cabot University in Rome, and at the Umbra Institute in Perugia, Italy. He specializes in oil painting, fresco painting, figure drawing, and traditional photography.

Personal

William Pettit is a painter and poet who also works as a sculptor, musician, photographer and video artist. He lives in the Sabina, in Italy, where he digs, plants, hoes, grows, burns, cuts, chops, fries, boils, bakes, stacks, eats and drinks, smokes, breaks, cooks, picks, prunes, scrapes, ties, waters, stakes, makes paintings, poems, olive oil and wine, builds stone walls and lakes and guitars, ails and aches, spackles, solders, surfs, sails, strums and sings.

Artist Statement

“I have considered myself an abstract painter, a landscape painter, and a painter of meat. The work can be formal, figurative and conceptual, and these genre are not exclusive. They are all considerations on the body, the physical and spiritual body in time and space. These can be very literal landscapes of location, or more cosmic drawings of solar systems, they may address the carnal, sexual body, the aging body, it's primal desire of survival and consumption, or the transcendent, spiritual body. A simply Cartesian body. The paintings' form reflects this in a balance of craftsmanship and chance, where process determines product. There is a formal tension and a lyrical abandon. Romantic swords battle stoic materialism. The carnal becomes sublime, Process surrenders to Reason, leaving behind much evidence of the transformation…"

Pettit’s current work deals with tonal and spatial compilations, and equivalents between visual and sonic languages. He has collaborated on multimedia projects with composer Michael Lindsey, photographer Serafino Amato, and natural scientist Leopoldo Frigerio.

Publications

William Pettit's poetry has been published in literary journals such as TO:, O-blek, South Road, Phoebe, POM, and digitally in Verse, since 1992. His first book of poetry, Ghost Songs, was published by Casagrande Press in 2009. His music is featured in several videos, recently in An Outsider's Perspective on Italian Pride, a video by Serafino Amato

Exhibitions

See Gallery for list of past shows and News for a list of upcoming shows.

Tone Sculpture (Wind-powered Theremin)

Four Easy Pieces

Four Tone Poems

99 Tones

A Week of Pancetta . The Bacon Show

Forty Nights/ 40 Pocket Universes

Reminiscences3

Photos by Serafino Amato


William A. Pettit III. Brief Bio Professional William Albert Pettit III received his Bachelor degree in Poetry and Studio Art from the University of Pittsburgh, and his Master of Fine Arts in Painting from Tyler School of Art. William Pettit's paintings have been shown in Philadelphia, Paris, and Rome since 1996. He is a professor of Studio Art at the John Cabot University in Rome, and at the Umbra Institute in Perugia, Italy. He specializes in oil painting, fresco painting, figure drawing, and traditional photography. Personal William Pettit is a painter and poet who also works as a sculptor, musician, photographer and video artist. He lives in the Sabina, in Italy, where he digs, plants, hoes, grows, burns, cuts, chops, fries, boils, bakes, stacks, eats and drinks, smokes, breaks, cooks, picks, prunes, scrapes, ties, waters, stakes, makes paintings, poems, olive oil and wine, builds stone walls and lakes and guitars, ails and aches, spackles, solders, surfs, sails, strums and sings. Artist Statement “I have considered myself an abstract painter, a landscape painter, and a painter of meat. The work can be formal, figurative and conceptual, and these genre are not exclusive. They are all considerations on the body, the physical and spiritual body in time and space. These can be very literal landscapes of location, or more cosmic drawings of solar systems, they may address the carnal, sexual body, the aging body, it's primal desire of survival and consumption, or the transcendent, spiritual body. A simply Cartesian body. The paintings' form reflects this in a balance of craftsmanship and chance, where process determines product. There is a formal tension and a lyrical abandon. Romantic swords battle stoic materialism. The carnal becomes sublime, Process surrenders to Reason, leaving behind much evidence of the transformation…" Pettit’s current work deals with tonal and spatial compilations, and equivalents between visual and sonic languages. He has collaborated on multimedia projects with composer Michael Lindsey, photographer Serafino Amato, and natural scientist Leopoldo Frigerio. Publications William Pettit's poetry has been published in literary journals such as TO:, O-blek, South Road, Phoebe, POM, and digitally in Verse, since 1992. His first book of poetry, Ghost Songs, was published by Casagrande Press in 2009. His music is featured in several videos, recently in An Outsider's Perspective on Italian Pride, a video by Serafino Amato Exhibitions See Gallery for list of past shows and News for a list of upcoming shows. Tone Sculpture (Wind-powered Theremin). Ri Galgata. Rolf Hartsmann and Comune di Gubbio. Gubbio, Italy. June 2011 Four Easy Pieces. The Dark Camera. Tuscania, Italy, April 2011 Four Tone Poems. NoemArt Film Festival. San Polo di Tarano, Italy, September 2010 99 Tones. Ri Galgata. Gubbio, Italy, as above. June 2010 A Week of Pancetta . The Bacon Show. Mew Gallery. Christian St., Philadelphia, USA. November 2009 Forty Nights/ 40 Pocket Universes. Ri Galagata. Gubbio, Italy. June 2009 Reminiscences3. Exit Art Contemporain, at ART’UNG, Rue du Bourg L’abbé, Paris, France. May 2008. Photos by Serafino Amato