Nature’s apparent chaos is ultimately deceptive: oceanic tides are orchestrated by powerful astronomical helixes, and the bee-swarm returns to a hive of mathematical precision. Jason Fitzgerald works on similar principles, creating labyrinthine sculptural reliefs that resonate with the minutiae of nature whilst distilling a universal rhythm.
A professional cabinet maker with a compulsive drawing habit, Fitzgerald is something of an urban bricoleur, salvaging timber shards and off-cuts from the furniture-factory floor. He treats his materials to further history by cutting, shaving, sanding and painting, before industriously forming objects for a future life. The topographic sculptures borrow from the modernist grid but rebuff theoretical concerns, instead evoking the human process of organisation and placement uniquely inspired by the artist’s aesthetic alertness. “I love finding beauty in brokenness”, says Fitzgerald. Paradoxically, this attention to the scars and scraps of previous industry inform the most durable and well-formed objects of beauty, fluent assemblages of craftsmanship and design.
Fitzgerald completed his BA at QCA at Griffith University in 2011 and has exhibited regularly since 2006. In 2010, he won several awards for excellence in studio practice and has been a finalist for a number of awards since, including The Churchie National Emerging Art Prize, Deakin University Contemporary Small Sculpture Award, The Alice Prize, The Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize and the Gold Coast Art Prize. His work is held in Australia’s Artbank collection and a number of private collections.
