Pooja Pittie headshot

Pooja Pittie

Pooja Pittie is a visual artist based in Chicago. Born and raised in India, Pooja trained as an accountant and moved to the U.S. in 1999. She earned an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, which led to a career in finance and entrepreneurship. A long held practice and self-study in painting was always apparent, and, in 2016, she decided to pursue her passion and shifted her focus to painting full-time. Since then, Pooja has completed the HATCH residency at Chicago Artists' Coalition, the Center Program at Hyde Park Art Center, and the 3Arts Bodies of Work Fellowship at UIC. 

 

Pooja has an incurable and progressive form of muscular dystrophy and her artistic process explores the constantly changing relationship between an often slow body and an active mind.

 

Pooja is the recipient of the 2022 3Arts Next Level/ Spare Room Award and has been nominated for the Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters & Sculptors Grant. Her work is in the collections of The Museum of Fine Arts Houston, The University of Chicago, and the University of Illinois, among others. Pooja is represented by the McCormick Gallery in Chicago.

Profile caption: Visual Artist Profile image by: Abbi Chase

Featured Artworks

  •  Four large and colorful paintings hang in a gallery space. The walls are white and the wooden ceiling and a beam are visible. Nothing Gold Can Stay Installation view, McCormick Gallery, Chicago Image: Robert Chase Heishman and Robert Salazar
  •  Pooja Pittie artwork If I Could Tell You I Would Let You Know 50x40 in, acrylic on canvas, 2021 Image: Robert Chase Heishman
  •  Pooja Pittie artwork Nothing Gold Can Stay 60x48 in, acrylic on canvas, 2021 Image: Robert Chase Heishman
  •  Three textile works hung together on a white wall. Textural knitted panels in soft hues. Holding Home Installation view 3 pieces from ongoing series: Yarn, paper, thread, watercolor, various sizes
  •  Pooja Pittie artwork Borrowed Splendor 48x36 in, acrylic on linen, 2021 Image: McCormick Gallery
  •  Pooja Pittie artwork Time Spirit 50x40 in, acrylic on canvas, 2021 Image: McCormick Gallery

Pooja Pittie has crowd-funded a project with 3AP

    • $5,662 raised of $5,000 goal
    • 0 Days 0:00:00 LEFT
      • 3Arts matched
      • 113% funded

    After months of working at home in quiet solitude, I am excited to share a new direction in my artistic practice that was born out of my love for drawing and a newfound realization of myself as a woman with …

    Read more about They've Tried to Tell You Who You Are