Taveling at Home

[Martin Garcia]

I got the opportunity to preview the next show at Home Gallery in Hyde Park. Patrick Fitzgerald's one person show Traveling, opens on Saturday and is primarily a collection of sculptures, which are reminiscent of drawings done in the margins of 7th grade math books. Vehicles of all sorts, sleek racers, ominous surveillance vans and odd creations. These sculptures are made from recycled objects like toilet paper tubes, cardboard and scrap pieces of balsa wood.

Now, this show might of taken me to a dreamy place filled with spies, surveillance and intrigue, except for the lack of attention paid to the objects by the artist. I understand not wanting to take yourself too seriously, but I feel as if these objects are not sculptures, but more byproducts of processes Patrick uses to organize his world. The actual artwork, and what might be most interesting, is his making them.

Talking with Home Gallery co-owner, Laura Shaeffer, I found that she had a difficult time trying to find a proper way to display the work. Home Gallery, which, as the name suggests, is not only a gallery but a home as well, had to incorporate the work in a way that separated it from the other objects in the home. The vehicles, which are no more than about eight inches in any dimension, would easily be lost in the active space that Home Gallery has to work with. Pedestals were built and, as of my writing this, no final decisions were made on this front.

One aspect of the show that is top notch , is a series of landscape paintings that compliment the vehicles. These paintings, in my opinion, are the strongest part of the show. It may be because a painting is so obviously art, and these vehicle sculptures seem to be more meditations than anything else.

At the end of a long day people like to unwind with something that our day jobs don't consist of, some people walk, others drink, Patrick makes some cool stuff and if your interested you can see what at Home Gallery, Saturday September 19, 2009, 6-9 pm.


Traveling recent work by Patrick Fitzgerald

PRESENTED BY: Home Gallery, 1407 E. 54th Place, Chicago, IL 60615
Opening reception: Saturday, September 19, 2009, 6-9 pm
Closing brunch: Sunday, October 11, 2009 12-3 pm

CONTACT: Laura Shaeffer - [e-mail], 773.363.5935