The sculpture "Receiving a painful message from my foot" by Justin Fitzpatrick is a linear composition featuring a series of spherical shapes connected by strings, resembling a stretched out bridge or network. The earthy tones of the spheres contrast with white elements, creating a striking visual tension. The interplay between geometric forms and everyday objects suggests a metaphorical connection, embodying Fitzpatrick's interest in metaphysical conceit. The work reflects on communication and sensory experience through a symbolic framework, emphasizing the transformative power of metaphor rooted in the artist's exploration of class and sexuality. ...
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. ...
Founded in 2010 by Guillaume Sultana, Sultana collaborates with emerging international artists. The gallery space operates as a site for experimentation and expression, often bringing together well-established and lesser known artists through a playful, yet politically-engaged curatorial program that highlights practices concerned with questions of identity and their social ramifications. By giving space to curators and writers, in addition to artists, the gallery is committed to rethinking the traditional modes of exhibition-making and collaboration within the art world. In 2021, Sultana opened Sultana Summer Set Arles to convene artists, collectors, curators, and friends close to the gallery in a domestic and intimate space in the heart of the city. This space was conceived as a residency and site of exchange, to host projects angled toward creative freedom, reflection, and flânerie that eschews a regular programming schedule, and is organized instead according to the whims and desires of our community. These two spaces exemplify the spirit of Sultana: the desire to provide artists with an independent platform for expression via site-specific projects and curatorial propositions. ...
