Mike Piggott’s paintings operate in a zone of curious stillness, one where his subjects are paused as if suspended in the thick air of recollection, some hybrid space where time simultaneously accumulates and dissolves. In his paintings of beachgoers, tabletops, fruit, flowers, cowgirls and cowboys, and the landscape of the American West, Piggott resists the spectacle of narrative or climax, focusing on presence and a particular, often mundane moment. At the center of Piggott’s practice is a devotional attention to being. His work playfully investigates the experience of being human, especially in the everyday awesomeness of nature. His subjects are not necessarily extraordinary, yet in Piggott’s hands they become supernal and elemental.
Piggott was born in Charlottesville, Virginia in 1963. Piggott’s lived a few places during childhood, including the Presidio of San Francisco, before settling in Lynchburg, Virginia. Piggott attended Virginia Commonwealth University, receiving his BA, and also studied at the Winchester College of Art, Winchester, England. Piggott has had numerous solo exhibitions, including those at Maya Frodeman Gallery, formerly Tayloe Piggott Gallery, Jackson, WY; Chandler Gallery, Mill Valley, CA; the Lynchburg Fine Arts Center, Lynchburg, VA; Visions West Contemporary in Bozeman and Livingston, Montana and Denver, Colorado; and at the Neapolitan Gallery, Richmond, VA. Piggott has participated in various group exhibitions, including those at Dairy Arts Center, Boulder, CO; The Jackson Hole Center for the Arts, Jackson, WY; and ArtsChicago, Chicago, IL. His work has been featured in Houzz Magazine, Homestead Magazine, Mountain Living, among other publications. Mike Piggott lives in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where he spends his time painting and exploring the surrounding hills, mountains, valleys and basins.