ABOUT THE ARTIST:

Robert Fitzgerald was born and raised in Southern California. His paintings are primarily oil, but include any media which he feels will translate the imagery to the canvas. He uses the power of images to communicate during a time when they have been ever more disposable as a result of mass availability. Robert extracts new meanings and creates new visions from borrowed or paraphrased images through layering and juxtaposition. He challenges the viewer by maximally disturbing the reading of the images in their original context, while minimally distorting the network of signs that make up each image. The artist departs from the tradition of Pop Art in trying to deepen, instead of homogenize the experience of seeing the images. His imagery, which is the debris of consumer culture, has been reevaluated by entering it on the surface of the art canvas.

The postmodern aesthetic has given artists the freedom to use any medium or subject they choose, without reference to its original meaning and intention, in order to express their own concerns.
The sources of Robert's images are intentionally secular and intentionally used to discover God and spirituality through art. Christian artists, like Robert, are no longer bound by the conventions of Christian iconography in the search for an appropriate visual expression for the Christian faith. We can no longer presume that Christian iconography is intended to reveal God, and neither can it be assumed that "secular" styles are devoid of sacred meaning. The artist believes that spirituality, like art, is about the internal and external, the subjective and objective dimensions. Both art and spirituality, allow us to transcend ourselves and the material world, instead of escape it.

The idea that God can be what you think He is, what you read He is, what art says He is, what a preacher says He is, simply is limiting to God, for He is much more than all those put together. Artist John Cage said, "Beauty is now underfoot wherever we take the trouble to look". Fitzgerald agrees with him, and would add that God is also. Fitzgerald also contends that God will be there anywhere you seek Him wholeheartedly, even in the banal and mundane tasks of life. The artist hopes that this is what he has inspired his audience to do.

 

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