Place Making is a striking, fascinating and somberly beautiful exhibition opening at the Norman Rea gallery in Langwith College on Monday. It resonates with a melancholic beauty, embodied in angular, geometric, compositions created from a juxtaposition of natural unprocessed components with light clean manufactured materials. It displays artist David Fitzpatrick’s drawings, photographs, paintings and sculptures together for the first time. The exhibition explores the concept of place making within the frame of the built environment, looking at natural and man-made environments and examining the relationship they have. The pieces are architecturally influenced, and with muted tones and structural compositions, Fitzpatrick explores the “kinetic sensations within each environment and uses materials and that represent the language of these sensations: light, dark, static, movement, tension and balance.”
Fitzpatrick completed an architecture degree at Kingston University before progressing to study fine art at Central St Martin’s College of Art and Design. His architectural background has been a strong influence on his work; it is apparent in the structural compositions of his sculptures. Among other influences he lists Anthony Caro, Richard Long and Martin Puryear, all of whom create conceptual sculpture pieces. Fitzpatrick felt he wanted to make the transition from architecture to fine art because of the freedom it allows for a more personal response to particular sites. Each piece shown is site specific: the concept a direct response to a specific place. For example his piece Rubix, which is to be exhibited publicly in an outside space on campus “started its life as part of the pier in Brighton that burnt down, fence posts that had not been used in years, string from a boating shop, plastic bits from broken old sheds and steel from a warehouse.” It is a large square solid piece, geometric and structural. Last academic year, Antonia Shaw, the curator for this exhibition, showed a piece called Hunter publicly on campus. The piece was vandalised and thrown in the lake. Rubix will be exhibited publicly on campus too, and I asked Fitzpatrick how he would feel if his work met a similar fate, “I think all forms of expression should be observed and respected. Crossing the line into vandalism speaks for itself. [The items used to create my sculptures] are only together because I wanted them to be. Perhaps it’s not up to me if they stay that way!”
Antonia Shaw, curator of Place Making says “I believe it is important to display contemporary sculpture in public spaces. Once an artwork is installed in a public space, barriers associated with art are confronted, questioned and sometimes broken down. It becomes a focal point of discussion and so integrates different communities. Placing work outside also embraces the University of York’s campus. I believe we should continually enrich the environment and regenerate redundant spaces.” This is an honourable intent, and by utilizing the Norman Rea Gallery as a platform for introducing people to genuinely good contemporary art, such as Fitzpatrick’s, it provides an easily accessible injection of culture into the campus environment.
Challenging boundaries is an important part of Fitzpatrick’s work, and commenting on the topic he says “Boundary points are a recurring theme in my work, not only in the concepts and ideas but also in the makeup of the art pieces. Assemblage is very important in expressing the relationship that different materials may have at the point at which they engage with each other. The decision on the materials falls heavily on the spirit of the piece and it’s make up.” This concept is explicit in his sculptures that juxtapose sharp crisp manmade elements with rough, rugged weathered pieces. He uses this contrast as “representative of the real world”.
The exhibition is primarily showcasing his conceptual sculpture pieces, unusually showing the preliminary work beside them. Fitzpatrick elaborates on his experimentation with photography, “Some pieces are photographic as they are preparatory work that can lead on to other things. Photography is a good way to document what we see and what we want to see, and I hope to use it more in my finalised work. At the moment my medium has been sculpture, but it will depend on the type of ideas and the representation of these ideas in the future that will depict the medium.” Shaw’s decision to show this preliminary work alongside the final pieces is illuminating; it allows us to get an insight into the creative process an artist uses to facilitate their arrival at their end product.
I think this exhibtion provides a brilliant opportunity to learn firsthand about what it is an artist actually does. What is the point in contemporary art? Why do artists produce the work they do? How do they arrive at their final compositions? What are they saying with their pieces? By being able to appreciate the entire creative process apparent in this exhibition, Fitzpatrick’s pieces offer an indispensible, beautiful glimpse at the world of contemporary art. Hopefully the Norman Rea Gallery will see many more exhibitions of this calibre, with what is in my opinion authentic art created by an intelligent, insightful, talented artist. It is a breath of fresh air: true art, not merely decoration or twee postcard prettiness, with a hackneyed target audience in mind. If you are interested in good contemporary art, visit Place Making.
Place Making opens on November 30th 2009- December 18th 2009, at the Norman Rea Gallery, Langwith College, York University.
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