Bio: John Fitzsimmons was born in Central New York in 1953.

He attended SUNY New Paltz and remembers two great teachers. “I learned a great deal about design from Dale Stein, I remember his lessons about color, contrast, scale, pattern, and texture all the time”. His drawing teacher was Alexander Minewski, “who I listen to every time I draw”. He went onto the Art Academy of Cincinnati. “I loved Cincinnati, in the early 70’s the cultures were not yet homogenized, and I got a very solid education there”.

Fitzsimmons is currently concentrating on paintings and prints of single figures and groups of figures. “I see the figure as raw material, that I use to search for the painting that is there somewhere”.

Artist Statement: When I am painting and drawing, I am digging, looking for a kernel, a seed, an essence that is there, I just need to find it. My work implies stories, but they are stories that can’t be told with words, only images.

I work on paintings and prints for a long time and I make a lot of revisions that tend to be reductive, 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 may seem promising, but I feel is a dead end.

Recently I have experienced both a family tragedy and my own brush with mortality which has increased both my artistic quest and the urgency to do so. Regarding my quest, my need and desire to express “that something” and regarding urgency and the realization that life is short.

Website: www.johnfitzsimmonsart.com

Social Media: @johnfitzsimmons99