Peter Flaccus is an American painter living in Rome. His abstract paintings make use of encaustic, an ancient medium involving colored wax. Born in Missoula, Montana, Peter Flaccus studied at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture (where he later returned as a member of the faculty), received his B.A. from Amherst College, and an M.F.A. in painting from Indiana University. He began his career in the early 1970’s in New York City, where he remained for twenty years, exhibiting his paintings in several galleries, most importantly the Zabriskie Gallery and Monique Knowlton Gallery. He was the recipient of various grants, including residencies at both Yaddo and the MacDowell Colony, and grants from the New York Foundation for the Arts. In 1989 he curated the exhibition “Belief in Paint,” at Bennington College in Vermont, where he also taught for several years.

Moving to Rome at the beginning of the 1990’s, Flaccus began to experiment with the medium of encaustic; this led to numerous group and solo exhibitions in the United States, Italy, Switzerland (Vevey 2021, Lugano 2017, Lenzburg 2004, Malans 2002), and France (Amilly 2009). His most recent solo exhibitions include: Palazzo Merulana (Rome 2023), Gallerie Riunite (Napoli 2023), Arte Fiera Bologna (2023), Galerie L&C Tirelli (Vevey, Switzerland, 2021), Maja Arte Contemporanea (Rome 2022 and 2019), Intragallery (Napoli 2018, 2014/15), Palazzo Cerio/Intragallery (Capri 2015), Galleria Otto (Bologna, 2014), Galleria La Nube di Oort (Roma 2014), Galleria Monty&Company (Roma 2014), Ninni Esposito Arte Contemporanea (Bari 2009, 2004, 2002, 2000), la Casa delle Letterature (Roma 2009), Il Frantoio di Capalbio (Toscana 2007). 

Marcello Barison, Alan Singer, Annemarie Sauzeau, Donald Kuspit, Grace Glueck, Brunella Antomarini, Jacqueline Risset, Rosa Pierno, Carlo Alberto Bucci, Maria Ida Gaeta, Tanja Lelgemann, Francesco Moschini, Stephen Westfall, Alberto Abruzzesi, Davide Sarchione, Claude Fournet and Susan Stewart are among the many critics who have written about his work.

For many years Peter Flaccus has taught painting and drawing at John Cabot University in Rome.