Works
Patrick Fitzgerald
Travelling
Not long ago I passed by an art school for kids on Wilshire Boulevard here in Los Angeles and gazed through the window upon one of the paintings exhibited on a large bulletin board. Extending from the left margin was the rear end of a large blue car with several exhaust plumes puffing out the tail pipe. It looked like a 1959 Cadillac with those tail fins and pointed red lights. A small personal computer monitor and keyboard, some loosely rendered small architectural grid forms, and other smudged shapes were scattered about as well. Overall, the young artist had knocked out a compelling terrain that also featured a pyramid of Hershey's Kiss-shaped brown forms topped with a star on the upper left horizon. He or she drew an arrow pointing at this star and wrote "chocolate star" to make extra certain we knew what this is. The title "The Mysteries" was written toward the bottom right corner, and this worked well for me. I thought to myself: "this kid knows as much about landscape painting as I do." Perhaps one day, as an adult, he or she will need to revisit this mysterious landscape.
I travel often back and forth between the present day and my youth. I'm always trying to regain that excitement I felt as a kid when I created something special to me. I am more informed about art today, but I still need to return to that time of my youth - and that creative ambience - to sustain my artistic life.
Travelling
Not long ago I passed by an art school for kids on Wilshire Boulevard here in Los Angeles and gazed through the window upon one of the paintings exhibited on a large bulletin board. Extending from the left margin was the rear end of a large blue car with several exhaust plumes puffing out the tail pipe. It looked like a 1959 Cadillac with those tail fins and pointed red lights. A small personal computer monitor and keyboard, some loosely rendered small architectural grid forms, and other smudged shapes were scattered about as well. Overall, the young artist had knocked out a compelling terrain that also featured a pyramid of Hershey's Kiss-shaped brown forms topped with a star on the upper left horizon. He or she drew an arrow pointing at this star and wrote "chocolate star" to make extra certain we knew what this is. The title "The Mysteries" was written toward the bottom right corner, and this worked well for me. I thought to myself: "this kid knows as much about landscape painting as I do." Perhaps one day, as an adult, he or she will need to revisit this mysterious landscape.
I travel often back and forth between the present day and my youth. I'm always trying to regain that excitement I felt as a kid when I created something special to me. I am more informed about art today, but I still need to return to that time of my youth - and that creative ambience - to sustain my artistic life.
