Justin Fitzpatrick works across the mediums of painting, sculpture and text. His recent figurative paintings and sculptures draw on the tradition of metaphysic conceit poetry, where an analogy is set up between a metaphysical quality and a physical object. The more far-fetched the relationship is between the two terms, for example in John Donne’s ‘The Flea’, the more ornamental and imaginative the poem becomes. By highlighting this distance between two terms, and the creative energy used to connect them, our attention is focussed on the performative power of metaphor itself and how it transforms reality. Subjects of Fitzpatrick’s work include an expanding collection of archetypal characters viewed through the lens of class and sexuality: the chef, the waiter, the monk, the construction worker and the police officer. ...
