was born in Newfoundland and Labrador to parents of Indigenous and settler descent. He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Memorial University, and a practice-led research Masters degree on the visual culture of Newfoundland and Labrador from the Waterford Institute of Technology in Ireland.
Pittman has participated in multiple residencies, including Fogo Island Arts’ Outport Interiors (2010) and his work has been extensively exhibited at home and abroad. In 2012, The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery curated a significant solo exhibition of his artwork comprised of over 5 years of visual explorations. In 2013 he was a semi-finalist for the Sobey Art Award, Canada’s pre-eminent award for contemporary Canadian art. The following year his work was included in a comprehensive exhibition of Newfoundland and Labrador artists at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection (2014).
Pittman’s work was shown in Venice, Italy as part of the Benetton Foundation’s Great and North during the 2017 Venice Biennale, and in 2018 his work was included in Future Possible; an exhibition that juxtaposed historic art and views of Newfoundland and Labrador with contemporary perspectives and practices, resulting in a major publication, marking the first comprehensive art history of the province. In 2021, he was invited to participate in the Bonavista Biennale, where his work was featured alongside some of the most exciting names in contemporary art. Here he began his current body of work, which investigates the intersection of trauma and the environment through landscape painting.
Over the past decade, Michael Pittman has been the recipient of multiple grants and awards for his artwork, which frequently references the physical environment, traditional knowledge and hidden histories of the places to which he is connected.
www.newfoundartist.com
www.newfoundartist.com
My imagery is often informed by a relationship with the geography, history and regional vernacular culture(s) of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Formally, the work sits at the periphery of established regional conventions, while also attempting to overturn some of the tropes that are ensconced in these visual traditions.
I embrace the ambiguous nature of things: the terrifying uncertainty of meaning. There is a disquieting strangeness that pervades the almost-familiar image; its unfixed meaning arouses an uncomfortable instability. In my work, I try to reflect and sometimes deconstruct the processes by which we perceive and process information through subtle, personal narratives.
I think that we see part of ourselves in everything we look at, for better or worse. Our experiences shape who we are, and at the same time, who we are has an undeniable impact on the way we experience a given situation.
When I create images or things, I gather my experiences around a particular subject and transcribe them in a way that makes some kind of personal, intuitive sense. The results are representative of the particular way that I decode the world. Though the work is highly subjective, I believe it’s illuminated by the commonality in the way that we all process and internalize experience.
Please direct inquiries to info@newfoundartist.com or contact:
Sivarulrasa Gallery
34 Mill Street
Almonte, ON
(613) 256-8033
Abbozzo Gallery
401 Richmond Street West, Suite 128
Toronto, ON
(416) 260-2220