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Tommy Fitzpatrick (born 1969, Dallas, TX) works from models—either handmade and photographed or constructed digitally—to make his paintings, which hold a careful balance between abstraction and representation. Working from these models, he translates volume, perspective and light into hard-edged pattern, pairing a geometric articulation of space with an insistence on painted surface and a careful attention to color. This contradiction between flat pattern and illusionistic depth is the terrain Fitzpatrick has been exploring with increasing sophistication for decades. Tommy Fitzpatrick earned his BA from The University of Texas at Austin in 1991 and his MFA from Yale University in 1993. He has exhibited his work in 20 solo exhibitions, including Crystal Cities, Holly Johnson Gallery, Dallas (2017); CITY FACES, Michael Schultz Gallery, Seoul, South Korea (2010); and Geometry in Reflection: Tommy Fitzpatrick and Margo Sawyer, The Gallery at the University of Texas at Arlington (2009). In 2004-05 the exhibition Object Lessons: a Survey of Work from 1997-2004, organized by the Galveston Arts Center, traveled to the Arlington Museum of Art. A companion exhibition, Observations: 1997-2004, was on view at Charles Cowles Gallery, New York. Fitzpatrick’s paintings are in the public collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, as well as the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. He is Professor of Painting at Texas State University in San Marcos. Fitzpatrick lives in San Ant ... view more »
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Artist Statement of Work
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Tommy Fitzpatrick has always been interested in architecture since growing up in a suburb of Dallas, Texas. Influenced by his experience assisting Frank Stella with the installation of a mural in Houston in 1998, Fitzpatrick paints boldly colored and geometric shapes arranging them to form paired down representations of structures. For Fitzpatrick, buildings illustrate the sublime notions of their architects that are transitional over time. As he stated in an interview with Wallpaper Magazine in April 2021, “‘Buildings that were once a remarkable feat of their time go out of style and are knocked down for the latest innovations. But there seems to be a quality within certain buildings and landmarks that acts as a universal commonality.’”(1 ) Fitzpatrick paintings evoke a sense of calm and peace while expressing a disrupted longevity.
Fitzpatrick’s long-term appreciation for architecture has most recently led to his exploration of unique tools and processes. He begins by pouring paint onto the canvas. He then employs trowels and spatulas, most commonly used for laying concrete, to spread the paint creating peaks and valleys on the surface. This alternative method of applying paint has allowed for a more illusionistic and obscure effect within his works. As he states, "It wasn't until the last two years that I began using non-art tools to paint with. I started using trowels and spatulas, tools that are used for laying concrete. ...those things really opened up painting for me…the paintings are becoming singular,
and they are illusionistic, but they are more about themselves than they are about portraying something. I'm really letting the paint take over and letting the paint be the first thing you see as opposed to the image.” (2)
Fitzpatrick (b. 1969 in Dallas, Texas) currently lives and works in New Braunfels, Texas, and is a Professor and Head of Painting at the Texas State University in San Marcos. He earned his BA from The University of Texas at Austin, and his MFA from Yale University School of Art. He has won numerous awards including, the Winsor Newton Oil Bar Limited Prize from Yale University School of Art, New Haven, CT given in recognition of outstanding work in painting and printmaking. He has shown extensively throughout the United States and abroad, including over 20 solo exhibitions including Miro Gallery, San Jose, CA; Inman Gallery, Houston, TX; Johnson Gallery, Dallas, TX; Michael Schultz Gallery, Seoul, Korea; Charles Cowles Gallery, New York, NY; and Schultz Contemporary, Berlin, Germany. His paintings are in the public collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston as well as the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.
- Lloyd-Smith, “Painting architecture : Tommy Fitzpatrick’s fractured modernist visions,” Wall Paper, April 6, 2021. https://www.wallpaper.com/art/tommy-fitzpatrick-architecture- painting-site-qualia-contemporary
- Artist Statement, 2022.