Tony Fitzpatrick
Pulling from childhood memories of his father and the city of Chicago, with recurring references to baseball cards, matchbooks, children’s books, comic books, superheroes, Catholicism, and folk art, Tony Fitzpatrick is recognized for his vibrant drawing assemblages, which thrive off of his stylized mastery of colored pencil and implementation of ephemera. Fitzpatrick is considered a renegade in the realm of contemporary art, fusing the aesthetics of a multitude of subcultures, artists, and decades. His illustrations merge graphic surrealist imagery and glorified mundane iconography to generate an evocative sense of nostalgia for simplistic suburban America. His often dark and idiosyncratic subjects are met with bold color choices and playful ornamentations, which imbue these characters with whimsy and mischief. By mixing childlike symbols with critical references and personal writing Fitzpatrick’s work creates a dreamlike scene with a hint of cynicism. His pieces allow viewers to honor an idealised American past while still remaining cognisant of the persistent concealed depravities.
Fitzpatrick’s work can be found in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the National Museum of American Art in Washington D.C., The Museum of Contemporary Art in North Miami, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, and …
Pulling from childhood memories of his father and the city of Chicago, with recurring references to baseball cards, matchbooks, children’s books, comic books, superheroes, Catholicism, and folk art, Tony Fitzpatrick is recognized for his vibrant drawing assemblages, which thrive off of his stylized mastery of colored pencil and implementation of ephemera. Fitzpatrick is considered a renegade in the realm of contemporary art, fusing the aesthetics of a multitude of subcultures, artists, and decades. His illustrations merge graphic surrealist imagery and glorified mundane iconography to generate an evocative sense of nostalgia for simplistic suburban America. His often dark and idiosyncratic subjects are met with bold color choices and playful ornamentations, which imbue these characters with whimsy and mischief. By mixing childlike symbols with critical references and personal writing Fitzpatrick’s work creates a dreamlike scene with a hint of cynicism. His pieces allow viewers to honor an idealised American past while still remaining cognisant of the persistent concealed depravities.
Fitzpatrick’s work can be found in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the National Museum of American Art in Washington D.C., The Museum of Contemporary Art in North Miami, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Recently he has exhibited solo shows in New York at MoMA P.S.1, Dieu Donne, and the Pierogi Gallery as well as in the Sidney Yates Gallery of the Chicago Cultural Center, Ammo Gallery in New Orleans, Rockford College Museum in Illinois, and the Billy Shire Fine Arts in Los Angeles.
Tamarind Institute, Albuquerque, NM
DePaul Art Museum, Chicago, IL
Mary & Leigh Block Museum of Art, Evanston, IL
Museum of Modern Art, New York City, NY
University Art Gallery - Indiana State University, Terre Haute, IN
Jonathan Novak Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
