Woody Pirtle

Woody Pirtle

Cynthia Hazen Polsky and Leon Polsky Rome Prize
September 7, 2015–March 7, 2016
Profession
Principal, Pirtle Design, New Paltz, New York
Project title
Reflections of the Eternal City
Project description

As a 2015 winner of the Rome Prize, I will pursue a series of collages that embrace material culture and graphic archeology, relative to the magnificence of Rome. Through the repurposing of a variety of interesting historic and contemporary materials such as photographs, drawings, newspapers, ads, labels, tickets, flyers, posters, and a variety of other graphic ephemera harvested from the Roman landscape, I will create a series of two-dimensional works that reflect the richness and depth of the Roman culture. I also hope to create a series of assemblages incorporating found objects and other industrial detritus from Rome’s fascinating multilayered material culture. My inspiration for this effort comes from my graphic design background where my continuing pursuit of successfully juxtaposing seemingly unrelated images has resulted in powerful and unexpected pieces of graphic communication.