The Painting is a Place: New Exhibition by Professor Emeritus Peter Flaccus

JCU Professor Emeritus of Studio Art Peter Flaccus’ new exhibition The Painting is a Place opened on April 6 at Palazzo Merulana in Rome and will run until May 21, 2023. The exhibition was made possible thanks to a collaboration between Palazzo Merulana, the Fondazione Elena e Claudio Cerasi, and CoopCulture, and it was curated by Francesco Cochetti.

Peter Flaccus

Peter Flaccus

Professor Flaccus is a painter known for his abstract works in the medium of encaustic. Encaustic painting, also known as hot wax painting, is a form of painting that involves a heated wax medium to which colored pigments have been added. The molten mix is then applied to a surface, usually a wooden panel, to create a painting. The medium is known for its remarkable permanence and strong effects of color and materiality.

The theme of Professor Flaccus’ exhibition is “The actions of our ancestors live on in our actions” (“Nei nostri gesti vivono i gesti dei nostri antenati”). In his paintings, Professor Flaccus applies several layers of molten wax to a tablet and then proceeds to scratch parts of it off after it cools down so as to create a bright surface that reflects and absorbs external light.

Born in Missoula, Montana, Peter Flaccus graduated from Amherst College and received an M.F.A. in Painting from Indiana University. He moved to Rome in the early 1990’s after living for twenty years in New York City, where he exhibited principally at the Zabriskie Gallery and the Monique Knowlton Gallery. Professor Flaccus joined John Cabot University in 1994, where he taught courses in painting, figure drawing, and the Rome sketchbook course until 2020.

He has held recent personal exhibitions at the Intra Gallery (Naples), Otto Gallery (Bologna), Galleria Nube di Oort (Rome), Ninni Esposito Arte Contemporanea (Bari), the Stiftung Muellerhaus (Lenzburg, Switzerland), Galerie L’AgArt (Amilly, France), Galleria del Frantoio (Capalbio), Casa delle letterature (Rome), Galleria dell’Associazione culturale italo-francese (Bologna), and Galleria AAM (Rome).

The entrance fee for Professor Flaccus’ The painting is a place exhibition is 10 euros.