 |
Fitzpatricks' most recent and ongoing project is a book entitled 'Mostly Women', a collection of his very personal
works relating to his environment and his closest friends: "By the end of 1986 my mother had died of cancer,
my friend Philip Lynott was gone, my marriage had broken up and I had moved in to my apartment by the beach in
Sutton. For a while I was completely traumatised and the inability of my work to express my feelings was a
source of total frustration to me. I loved my Celtic work but it just wasn't enough anymore. I needed a
different outlet and so I began to paint and draw the sea and the islands around me as well as re-learning the
art of life drawing. I was in a relationship by this time with an Irish-American girl, who lived with me, on
and off for six years, and had a severe problem with me using models or drawing other women. I had always drawn
and painted nudes and it had never bothered my ex-wife who had often been the subject of my life drawings and now
increasingly I felt the need to extend myself in this area out of sheer frustration at the lack of expression
in my work. This unfortunately led to endless clashes and instead of being liberated, I was emotionally and
artistically restrained. On top of this I had two households to support and was doing a lot of commercial stuff
that I hated to keep this circus on the road!.
In 1988 after a year of secretly using one of my best female friends as my life model, I decided to go for broke
and allocate 50% of my time drawing and painting only what I wanted- not work for sale, not work for gain.
Work produced solely for my own pleasure and satisfaction. I decided to start from scratch and learn exactly
how to be an artist and how to draw in a manner that satisfied my inner self and expressed how I felt about my
life and work. I always found myself most comfortable and at ease when attempting to capture the beauty of women
and the buzz that I felt when I succeeded was always intensely rewarding".
" Some artists are obsessed with the ugliness of their environment and the inner angst of the tormented soul.
I am obsessed with the exotic and the erotic, the obscene and the bizarre but always with the sublime beauty
of women. It's an obsession that goes back to my childhood and through circumstances that I touched on earlier
and don't wish to explain further, I spent six of the more formative years of my life, innocently sharing a
bed with two sisters of my own age, in a room with four young women. Growing up in this environment, I found
the subtleties of women amazing and perplexing. I would watch the older girls endlessly as they dressed and
undressed but what held my attention most was the time that they spent preparing themselves for an evenings
outing: I was fascinated by the sheer thoroughness of that preparation, the hours spent experimenting with
and applying make-up, the long hair washed and brushed endlessly, often two or three times until the shape
was perfect. The way that polish was applied to fingernails and toenails. Men have so little fun with
themselves in comparison !"
INTRODUCTION - AUTOBIOGRAPHY
- MYTHOLOGY - UPDATE
GALLERY - CONTACT
ME - LINKS - WORKS
FOR SALE
|
 |
|
