Jan Murphy Gallery is delighted to present ‘Repetition’, a new exhibition of hand-built stoneware vessels and timber assemblages by Brisbane sculptor Jason Fitzgerald.
A professional cabinet maker by trade, Fitzgerald is acutely aware of the parameters of form and function and his latest exhibition showcases his distinct craftsmanship and design. Repetition has been a consistent feature in Fitzgerald’s practice as he meticulously builds up shapes and forms in a repetitive manner to create landscape-like patterns and organic vessels and objects.
Fitzgerald’s practice is process driven and his latest artworks are carved and scratched, sawn and shaped, aged and rusted, broken and rebuilt to create relics that exist in the here and now.
“There is this feeling I get when working in the studio, a feeling of Zen. I am in my safe place. The drama and stress of the outside world no longer exist, just me and my obsession with repetition. It has not always been this way; anxiety held me back my entire life, and it was through art that I found the confidence I needed.
From the very beginning, the repetitive form was evident in my work, an instinctual action that has shaped my practice. The process has a meditative like quality about it, as I find myself immersed in the action of replicating a shape or pattern over and over again. Whether they be constructed with timber or clay, the repetitive shapes begin to take on a life of their own. As the shapes engage with each other, they form patterns that generate a sense of tranquility.” – Jason Fitzgerald, 2022
Fitzgerald completed his BA at QCA at Griffith University in 2011 and has exhibited regularly since 2006. In 2020 and 2021 respectively he was named a finalist in the Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize. He is a former finalist in The Churchie National Emerging Art Prize, Deakin University Contemporary Small Sculpture Award, The Alice Prize and the Gold Coast Art Prize. His work is held in Australia’s Artbank collection and a number of private collections.
Image credit: Jason Fitzgerald, ‘Busted Pineapple 1’, 2022 stoneware, glaze, acrylic and rust paint, 33.5 x 22.0 x 24.0 cm
