Tommy Fitzpatrick: Electric Labyrinth

Holly Johnson Gallery in Dallas, Texas is pleased to announce the opening of Electric Labyrinth an exhibition of new paintings by Tommy Fitzpatrick. An opening reception for the artist will be held on Saturday, September 8, from 6 to 8 p.m. 

 

In Electric Labyrinth, Fitzpatrick’s inspiration is a 1968 print of the same name by the Japanese architect Arata Isozaki. This same print proved inspirational for Herzog & de Meuron, the world-renowned Swiss architects responsible for the Tokyo Prada store, a glamorous seven-story glass construction huddled together with other luxury stores in Tokyo’s Aoyama district, a Mecca for the fashion elite. A 2008 trip to this location proved instrumental to the artist. Several of the paintings in the show are based on the early blueprints and models of the building, as well as the building under construction.

 

According to the artist, "I wanted to continue my investigation into the language of architecture. I want my paintings to be broader in scope and more ambiguous. In the past, I would have painted a specific building in a somewhat local palette.  In these new works, color is abstract and does not relate to this world.” Several, in an orange and blue palette, create a three-dimensional effect favored by the artist for its visual distortion. In addition, smaller paintings that the artist looks upon as drawings will also be included. These works offer a simplified and refined linear relationship, diversifying his painting style – not to mention a change in scale.

 

Fitzpatrick has shown in exhibitions in Madrid, London, and most recently, Seoul, Korea. An exhibition catalogue was published for his 2009 Seoul show titled City Faces. In 2009, he participated in a two-person show with Margo Sawyer at the University of Texas at Arlington. Christine Rees, curator of Fort Worth Contemporary Arts, in an accompanying catalogue, notes that, “Fitzpatrick exposes the science-fiction element of modern architecture, to be sure, one that evokes Orwellian totalitarianism or Philip K. Dick, as well as the bloodless unregulated capitalism that’s led to our current economic crisis…”

 

Prior to this, his work was also documented in catalogues for Bridge, a 2006 solo show in Berlin, and Object Lessons, a survey of Fitzpatrick’s work curated by Clint Willour of the Galveston Arts Center. The survey of nearly thirty paintings from 1997 to 2004 originated in Galveston and traveled to Texas A&M-Commerce and The Arlington Museum of Art.

 

Fitzpatrick was born in Dallas in 1969.  In 1991, he received a B.A. in Fine Art from the University of Texas in Austin, followed by an M.F.A. from Yale University School of Art in 1993. His work is in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston as well as the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.  This exhibition marks the artist’s second solo show at Holly Johnson Gallery. Fitzpatrick is currently an Assistant Professor of painting at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas. He resides in Austin.