John Fitzsimmons
Artist Statement
When I am painting, I am digging, looking for a kernel, a seed, an essence that is there, I just need to fine it. My work implies stories, but they are stories that can’t be told with words, only images.
I work on paintings and prints a long time and I make a lot of revisions that tend to be reductions. In other words, I start with more and end with less, removing details, figures and color. Accident may come into the process but only in service to the end, not for its own novelty. I try to be tough with myself and push for a strong end, even if it means destroying something that seems promising but I feel is a dead end.
Over the past year I have experienced both a family tragedy and my own mortality which has increased both my artistic quest and the urgency to do so. In regards to my quest, my need and desire to express “that something” and in regards to urgency, the realization that life is short.
“My interest lies in what can not be told, in what seems unspeakable”
Nicolas Africano
John Fitzsimmons is a native of Central New York and has exhibited nationally and internationally and is in many publications and private collections. He is an alumnus of the Arts in Embassies program which was started by President Kennedy to promote American Culture overseas.