Working across painting, collage, printmaking, and sculpture in steel, aluminum, bronze, and wood, Richard Pitts creates work charged with energy and movement. His sculptures—curving ribbons of metal that hold and define space—exist in dialogue with his paintings, where compressed forms create a conversation between experience and the intervals that shape consciousness. His collaged works layer memories extracted from drawings and recollections, transforming them into new representations. As critic Jill Conner observed, Pitts extends the drawn line into three-dimensional space, compiling surfaces that connect to form dynamic, wing-like structures. Pitts describes his practice as a wayfinder for the spirit, creating places where the imagination gathers past, present, and future into a single moment.

Since 2004, Pitts has focused increasingly on sculpture, and his large-scale outdoor works have been installed across the country—from Chicago and Providence to Knoxville and Salisbury—appearing in parks, public spaces, and cultural institutions. His paintings, collages, and sculptures have been featured in solo exhibitions at venues including M55 Gallery in New York City, AMArthouse in Connecticut, and the Homer Art Center in New York, as well as in numerous group exhibitions and public collections.

Pitts was born in Fort Monmouth, New Jersey to a military family and traveled throughout the United States before settling in Clifton, New Jersey. After graduating from Clifton High School, he attended the Newark School of Fine and Industrial Arts where he met painter and sculptor Reuben Kadish. In 1960, Pitts moved to New York City and attended Pratt Institute in 1961, where he studied with painter Ernie Briggs. Both Kadish and Briggs became lasting friends and inspirations. His friendship with fellow student Mark Zimetbaum, founding member of the New York Studio School, inspired Pitts to pursue the artist-run studio model that would shape his career.

After a three-year tour in Europe with the United States Army, Pitts returned to Pratt Institute and graduated in 1968. He established his studio on 18th Street in New York City and became a founding member of the First Street Gallery. His friendship with Mario Busoni deepened his appreciation for the transplanted European culture that enriched postwar New York City. From 1970 to 1973, Pitts taught painting at the Kansas City Art Institute. Following a scholarship to study at the New York Studio School in Paris, he returned to New York with his wife Linda Scott, also a painter, and their infant son Morgan. He began teaching in the Fine Arts Department at the Fashion Institute of Technology, where he would remain until his retirement as Full Professor in 2010.

While exhibiting paintings and prints nationally and throughout New York during 1988, Pitts married painter and designer Karen Gentile. Together they began building their studios on an old farm in Pennsylvania. In 2003, Pitts joined with key members of FIT’s Fine Arts Department—Melissa Starke, Coordinator, and Marcin Wlodarczyk, Director of Printmaking Technology—to found Urban Studio, which became Urban Studio Unbound. The gallery, supported by a grant from Yonkers, New York, is managed by Melissa Starke as Director and Curator. After attending the Artist Welding Workshop with David Boyajian at the Sculpture Barn in New Fairfield, Connecticut in 2009, Pitts established a sculpture studio for welding metals on his Pennsylvania farm, where he continues to work today.