Michael Workman

Tony Fitzpatrick has almost come to define what it means to be a working artist in Chicago. The first in his series of three books, "The Wonder: Portraits of a Remembered City," offers a dramatization of the city as lived through that particular species of imaginative anamnesis evoked by Nabakov's "Speak, Memory." Recent shifts in Fitzpatrick's art, from traditional printmaking techniques (though Fitzpatrick has never exactly been traditional) to collage mark a sensitivity to his aesthetic that rises above the scenesterism most artists take for success; his historic and recent shifts from established Chicago galleries to younger, edgier upstarts both in Chicago and New York demonstrate a willingness to chuck it all in the interest of artistic evolution. Never mind the extensive reviews he's received since, in the New York Times, on the cover of Art In America, or similar national publications; in Chicago he's still just one of ours, a White Sox fan.

It's that kind of risk-taking, coupled with an oftentimes brazen willingness to say what he thinks, often pointed to challenge his listeners, occasionally as a host of WXRT's "Eclectic Club," as the spokesperson for the Artistic Advisory Committee for the Chicago Art Foundation's museum project, or as conversationalist-in-chief at his Big Cat Studio on Damen Avenue--always open to the public--that both offends and enlightens those who take an interest in Chicago art. That includes a cast of such heavy-lifters as Jonathan Demme and Penn Gillette, as well as hundreds of collectors of equal renown across the globe. What's so special about Fitzpatrick? It's not just his stick-tuitiveness, his mission or the acuteness with which he has defined his audience: his poetic constellations draw you in, like it or not.

Even if you're not prone to his brand of visual aggregation, of star-like clusters shoved into a suspended orbit around a moment or metaphor, often centered on a single, phantasmic central figure--you're hooked by looking. It's also the simple fact that Fitzpatrick's subject has long been this city, a place of wonder and imagination for him, where a kid with a bad temper and an addictive personality could grow up to become one of Chicago's big-time artists. His crusade to understand himself by interrogating the Chicago experience as he's lived it makes Fitzpatrick one of the city's greats.

(2005-09-27)

Also by Michael Workman

Eye Exam
In the finer granulations of the useless heaps of information generated by the DIY revolution of Internet technology, on occasion a pearl or two appear in the dungpile
(2005-09-20)

Eye Exam
What an amazing weekend, with what started on Friday feeling as if it lasted pretty much the whole seventy-two hours through Sunday. At least the hangovers have, and how much art hasn't yet been viewed?
(2005-09-13)

Is River North Dead?
Imagine this headline: "River North is dead." If you're running a gallery in the neighborhood, your response would probably be something like "What the %@#&?"
(2005-09-06)

Eye Exam
Six spaces in a loosely defined area on the Near Northwest Side have recently forged an alliance to help promote each other's exhibitions
(2005-09-06)

Fall Forward: Art and Museums
(2005-08-31)

Tip of the Week
(2005-08-30)

Eye Exam
(2005-08-30)

Eye Exam
(2005-08-23)

Tip of the Week
(2005-08-16)

Eye Exam
(2005-08-16)

Eye Exam
(2005-08-09)

Eye Exam
(2005-08-02)

about Newcitychicago | about Newcity magazine | advertising | privacy policy | FAQ | employment