Patrick Gorman Pettis' Blog

"Anastasia" From the '2013 Warrior+ Series' Click this text to View them in the Gallery There are those among us who have endured and are still strong, are still happy. These men and women have used mind body and soul to overcome their challenges and with will and attitude have chosen. They have chosen to have a life rather than let life have them. This makes them more than Warriors, each with their own story each with their own set of wisdom, each leaders and teachers by the example of their lives. This series was inspired by them, those heroes who may or may not have kingdoms, wealth and fame for who they are but are wealthy and powerful none the matter. We know them, and we are them if we also choose to be.  Each piece is a symbol of the attitudes and impressions within this concept. I will detail them each for you in this entry as best I can but as we know with ideas, feelings and art . . . our language, our words cannot say it all and rarely say

 In my world, things are not just things. I believe in the symbolic values of objects and images, once assigned they can inspire a wounded soul, change a stale attitude, renew a tired traveler or motivate. A candle, a bird, a cup, the number three, throughout time there has always been an allocation of spiritual assignment to so many things we encounter commonly and daily in our day to day lives. When placed together a certain way they form a kind of mathematical statement, a visual sentence. For example: think of bread, wine, a cross and the number 12 or poker chips, a roulette wheel and a flashing neon sign, maybe a tomato, garlic and oregano - - these mean things assembled in our minds, in an order they produce a larger image a definition that as a whole is much more detailed and in depth and greater than the items themselves individually. Art, to me, is very much the same way. These symbols when looked on in such a way, with this awareness directly and almost inst

 The heart can be moved by virtually anything if it is aware of it. Easily we are surrounded by the most magnificent of dynamic beauty in our own bodies and back yards ranging from the sub-atomic to the planets and stars themselves. The trick is to simply become aware and acknowledge that beauty then just allow ourselves a moment to be moved by it. Admittedly I don't understand people who claim they're never curious, to me its impossible not to be interested if not distracted by one thing or another. I see the world differently I suppose, I'm just so fond of life, which in part is why I'm so fond of the saying  ' Totus res decorus' which is Latin for 'All things Beautiful'. I think life can be quite beautiful and I celebrate the quality of life, its so very brief and rare after all. Its easy to feel this way, we don't need millions of dollars to take a moment and be able to appreciate something attractive or well made. One of the most common qu

The request was simple enough, ten people, only ten trace your hands and mail them in. One by one they began arriving. Like friends sharing the latest news or a personal secret. And every time a new set arrived I got excited like a little kid at a celebration. It amazes me how this simple act can be so intimate in its way, forming a relationship rather complex though silent. The promise of a beginning, an adventure of sorts and so much potential to grasp with each unique duo. Some were folded, I made no specification as to how I wanted them other than labeling the right hand with an 'R'. I am particularly fond of that letter but my reasons we're far more practical. I did this because depending on what kind of paper they use the image could bleed through and one would never be able to tell which is face up. The folds I don't mind and not wanting to complicate the project for my participants I just took them out myself. This formed no challenge at all. A simpl

Time,what a strange and wonderful thing, omnipresent and given to us all freely "The Past Lives of Roland Arfly" 2012 and still simultaneously so very precious The way people speak about their bodies and time has always fascinated me. Because they address it as if they are a body that has a soul, and really this made very little sense to me at all even at a younger age. That would to me be like a horse having a wagon in a way. The mass majority of who we are is intangible, what makes us 'us' is so much more than the composition of arms and legs and teeth and hair, we are so much more and without it we are simply bio electrical machines.  Wouldnt it make more sense then, to accept that we are souls that in the grand scheme of all that is, was, and will be only for the moment have a body? Intelligent dynamic indestructible energy encapsulated within the most delicate of ways, a work of art in and of itself. I myself believe in a soul, but really we simply just

I am fortunate enough to be able to experience all of the seasons here without a gross amount of discomfort, its actually really quite wonderful even with it's challenges. And so it is very much a winter now in these parts, a land of ice and snow, but to an artist using natural medium its a literal wonderland full of opportunity when just a tiny bit of very old technique is applied. Using ice and snow - thousands of crystallized water molecules - in a slow leeching process that can only be done in freezing cold temperatures (as illustrated by placing some chili onto fresh snow for about six to eight hours) I believe in the stillness of this season, its perfect quiet at times and what it provides for the soul, a period of reflection. Not even a pool of water can reflect on its surroundings until it is still. And how delicate these flowers of winter, the snow flake and icicle are, how fleeting and momentary in the rotation of all the other seasons. I used to make a