PATRICK WEBB

Patrick Webb is a contemporary painter who has been utilizing the Italian clown Punchinello as his tragi-comic 'Everyman' since 1991. He draws inspiration from G.D. Tiepolo's work uses Punch's life events to critique contemporary society's treatment of the protagonist. Webb's narratives are set against the historical backdrop of the AIDS epidemic, adding poignancy to his vignettes.

Webb first encountered Punchinello in 1989 at the Ca' Rezzonico in Venice, where he was immediately drawn to the character's phallic red nose and white hat. He realized that Punchinello could become the ideal protagonist for his contemporary narratives, with his mask both disguising and marking him as an outsider.

Webb's work has been exhibited extensively in solo and group exhibitions across the United States and Osaka, Japan. Most recently, his Tinker Tailor series of 60 paintings was installed at Pfizer Gallery in Brooklyn, New York, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots. His work is held in both private and corporate collections and has been featured in over 30 publications.

Patrick Webb received his BFA from the Maryland Institute of Art in Baltimore and an MFA from Yale University. He is currently a teacher at the Pratt Institute in New York City. He has received a Guggenheim Fellowship and awards from the National Endowment for the Arts. His work is part of the permanent collection of the Boston Public Library, the Leslie-Lohman Museum, and multiple private collections.

For the True North Exhibition, Webb presents a series of works on a theme he has explored throughout his career: Street Battles. In these paintings, Punchinello confronts the forces of authoritarianism and fights back. Some works reference historical events, such as the Stonewall riots, January 6th, and the Black Lives Matter movement. These paintings serve as allegories of lived life, depicting upheaval, struggle, and anguish. For Webb, the repeated presence of this theme and the Punchinello figure in his work point to his true north and his dedication to exploring the imagined world as the ultimate good, as expressed by the poet Wallace Stevens in his "Final Soliloquy of the Interior Paramour."