About Peeta
In my work, I endeavour to realize the sculptural quality of individual letters, namely the ones
that spell out my own moniker Peeta. I break them from their generic typographical form,
stylizing them with shape and volume beyond its mere semantic function. Thus my own lettering
is brought into the fluidity of the urban, where words are continuously ruptured from their own
histories, readapted into idiom and gestures learned off the street. The final result derived from
the fusion between traditional lettering and three dimensional style has ended up in giving life
to a unique kind of visual rhythm, created by the intersecting lines between sections of conic,
cylindrical and twisting surfaces.
The role of sculpture comes to be essential for this purpose. It represents for me a direct contact
with three-dimensionality in order to understand the rules of light and shadows and to reproduce
them.
In my most recent works, my aesthetic research is merged with more personal and even
intimate contents linked to spirituality, the study of Sacred Geometry and proportion.
Despite the depth of research into technical and formal perfection, the materialness of
three-dimensional painting hides a deeply spiritual side. Shades of colour and perceptive
tricks are essentially the means to a progressive disclosure of my own personality. They
are an implicit intermediary of a precise message — of my will to understand myself
and subsequently to describe my ego. The choice to represent and reiterate my own
name is already an attempt to paint a self-portrait. My works are aimed at revealing the
deceptiveness of human perception, the fallacy of narrow and fixed points of view through
visual tricks which, proceeding from the attempt to confer a three-dimensional semblance
on a pictorial representation, ultimately reveal their will to deceive.
Peeta, also known as Manuel Di Rita, is a graffiti artist since 1993 currently living in Venice. He is a member of the EAD crew (Padova, Italy), FX and RWK crews (New York City) and has participated in graffiti jams and Meeting of Styles events in Europe and the Americas. His work explores the potential of sculptural lettering, both in painting and in sculpture.
Chronology
2000
EAD crew member.
2001
Sculpture for Susan Farrell (artcrimes).
2002
FX crew member (New York).
Birth of: www.peeta.net.
Meeting of Styles tour:
-Antwerp, Belgium.
-Amsterdam, Netherlands.
August - 360 graffiti jam Sarbrueken, Germany.
August - graffiti jam Bremen, Germany.
2003
Interview for WS&TR (Italian version only)
Meeting of Styles tour:
Antwerp, Belgium.
-Pori, Finland
-Zagreb, Croatia
-Winterthur, Switzerland
-Wiesbaden, Germany
-New York, USA.
October - Graffiti jam Mexico City, Mexico DF.
2004
Meeting of Styles tour:
-Zagreb, Croatia
-Wiesbaden, Germany
-Mainz, Germany.
July - Cosmopolite festival Paris, France.
July - Urban Dream Charleroi, Belgium.
September - Hi-Fight Rome, Italy.
2005
Meeting of Styles tour:
-Zagreb, Croatia
-Wiesbaden, Germany
-Padova, Italy.
Publication: Groove, L'arte prende forma, article on sculpture.
May - jury for a graffiti contest in Catania, Italy.
June - Nd2nd graffiti jam, Nessebar, Bulgaria.
2006
Interview for Fatbombers.com (English and Italian version).
Meeting of Styles tour:
-Wiesbaden, Germany
-New York, Usa
-Chicago, Usa
-San Francisco, Usa
-Mexico City, Mexico DF
-Padova, Italy
-Varna, Bulgaria.
August - Balcan Express graffiti jam & exhibition Sarajevo, Bosnia.
November - Street art energy: Peeta & Totem exhibition, Tessaloniki, Greece.
2007
July - Meeting of Styles Padova, Italy.
May - Spray art convention and exhibition Pontedera, Italy.
September - Canvases exhibition at Megastore Gallery, The Hague, Netherlands.
October - Photo and canvases exhibition at Magazzini del Sale, Venice, Italy.
Dicember - Workshop with Loomit for young graffiti writers in Bogotà, Colombia.
2008
February- Article for Format Magazine (English version only).
February/ March - Guilty at the Dock , sculptures exhibition at Magazzini del Sale, Venice, Italy.
April - Peeta at Salone del mobile di Milano (international forniture fair, Milan), stand graphics for Casamania.
June - Canvases exhibit at Edgeart Gallery, Manchester, UK.
June - Pubblication on Graffiti Writing, book by Alessandro Mininno, Mondadori arte.
June - Cover for Abitare, issue 483 - interior design, architechture and art magazine. Made by Salottobuono.
June 28th-29th - One Mile Graffiti, writing contest, Vicenza, Italy.
August 1st - AKA Graffiti - sculptures and bikes exhibition at FIVEtenStudio art and forniture Gallery - Oakland, California, USA.
August 8th-9th-10th - Meeting of Styles, Mestre, Italy.
September 5th-6th-7th - Infart Collective art exhibition - Street wall painting and indoor exhibition at Civic Museum, Bassano del Grappa, Italy.
September 24th - Interview for koikoikoi.com (Italian version only) .
October 12th - Interview for DIaBEtic DEW555 blog (English version only).
October 19th - Masterplan Jam - Brescia, Italy.
2009
October 10th - Post - Collective exhibition, Scorzè, Italy.
October 30th - Sparkle and Fade solo exhibition at PrettyPortal Gallery, Düsseldorf, Germany
December 17th - Urban Painting XMAS Show, Milan, Italy.
2010
Graffiti Playground show and Auction, Marseille, France.
From January 8th to February 8th and from April 21st to May 15th- Merge - Collective exhibit at Ayden Gallery, Vancouver BC, Canada.
February 11th - March 13th - Void Of Hue exhibition at Baron Gallery
Gastown, Vancouver BC, Canada.
April 1st to May 30th - Group show at Backspace Gallery in Portland, Oregon, USA.
May 29th to July 24th - Contemporary art exhibition at Baron Gallery, Vancouver BC, Canada.
August 21st to September 18th - Peeta Solo Show at Da Bakery Gallery, New York, USA.
2011
December 17th 2010 to January 23rd 2011 - Peeta feat. Made514 show at Ayden Gallery, Vancouver BC, Canada.
February 14th to May 15th- Seven show at Ayden Gallery, Vancouver BC, Canada.
April 1st to April 30th- Never Say Die (RWK 10th anniversary) at Vincent Michael Gallery, Philadelphia, PA.
May 7th to May 29th- Seven dimensions - sculptures exhibition at Santa Maria delle Croci, Ravenna, Italy.
May 16th to May 22nd- live performances at Kosmos Kak..., Rizzordi Art Foundation loft, St. Petersbourg, Russia.
May 14th to June 4th - Peeta solo exhibition at Luxury Swapping, Treviso, Italy.
July 15th to August 5th - RWK show Too Busy To Die at Ayden Gallery, Vancouver, BC.
August 13th to August 16th - live performance at Kont, Tallin, Estonia.
September 9th to September 11th - Marbour Events show and auction at Marseille, France.
October 13th to October 16th - Moniker Art Fair London, UK.
October 14th to November 15th - Urbanize Me Padova, Italy.
October 28th to November 30th - Peeta Solo Show at Gallery H+ Lyon, France.
November 19th to December 28th - Ad Litteram Peeta and Joys show, Treviso, Italy.
Publication on Elrincondelasboquillas
Publication on Scope Magazine
Publication on Art Jar studios
Publication on Hyde magazine
Publication on Tinta magazine, pages 54-63
Publication on Where magazine, click here and here to download PDF pages
Publication on Live in Style magazine (Russian version only)
Publication on Sanktpeterburg Bezformata magazine (Russian version only)
Publication on Art In Heart (Russian version only)
Publication on Rizzordi Art Foundation website (Russian version only)
2012
April the 7th - Sticker Phiends / Printed Matters - Urban Art exhibit Portland (OR), USA.
April the 25th to April the 28th- Respirarte 300, Bologna, Italy
The 25th and 26th of May- 39 C graffiti jam, Bolzano, Italy
The 5th of May- Toolkit festival Peeta and Apparati Effimeri video mapping, Forte Marghera (VE), Italy
The 1st-2nd and 3rd of June- Elementi Sotterranei graffiti jam, Gemona, Italy
The 29th and 30th of June - Graffiti Spis 5 graffiti jam, Spišská Nová Ves (SK)
21st of July- 6th of Agoust 2012 at Beyond The City Walls contemporary art exhibition, Castello Orsini, Soriano del Cimino (VT)
1st of August- 30th of September Santorini Biennale of Arts 2012 , paper Art section. Central Pirgos Square 84700 Pirgos, Santorini (GR)
14th-28th of August Unnecessary Well Made , group show at Vue Privée 63, Spottiswoode Park Road, Singapore
24th-26th of August A Tribute to Meeting of Styles , graffiti exhibit at Schlachthof, Wiesbaden (DE)
1st-2nd of September Lobart Festival , graffiti jam at Naoussa (GR)
7th-8th of September Maribour Events , graffiti jam and auction in Marseille (FR)
29th of September Plakat , graffiti exhibit at Lokagije (BA)
4th-31st of October Art Around The Corner , Peeta and Veronica Green at Associazione culturale Imagoars ,Venezia (IT)
11th-14th of October Antaragni 2012 Festival at IIT Kanpur (IN)
26th of October-2nd of November Fuoriluogo graffiti exhibition at Limena (IT)
Publication on Artflow magazine
Publication on Neo Collective
Publication on Monokrome Book
Publication on Global Street Art
Art Around the Corner catalogue on Peeta and Veronica Green
2013
1st - 24th of March Nothing On The Walls Contemporary and Urban Art exhibit at Amsterdam (NL)
15th-17th of March Amazing Day graffiti exhibition in Milan (IT)
4th-6th of May Breakin' Convention international festival of hip hop dance, London (UK)
