Loomis Gallery Exhibit: That Which Can Not Be Spoken
- Loomis Gallery, 104 Allen Hall
- Mansfield
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New York artist John Fitzsimmons has an exhibition of paintings and prints, “That Which Can Not Be Spoken,” at Commonwealth University-Mansfield’s Loomis Gallery through Thursday, Oct. 22.
Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., in Allen Hall, room 104. A reception will be held on Oct. 22 from 5 to 6:30 p.m. The gallery will be closed October 12 and 13 for Fall Break.
Born in Central New York in 1953, Fitzsimmons grew up on the edge of small-scale suburbia and spent his time in the fields and woods during the short summers and long and cold winters.
He attended SUNY New Paltz and is currently concentrating on paintings, drawings, 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.”
“I have been doing this for sixty years. Every day I stand in front of my work and ask: What do I paint? How to paint? And why paint?” says Fitzsimmons. “I eventually realized that the only question I cannot ask is, 'Why paint?' Because I must do so as a matter of faith and need.”
“I use the human figure as a vehicle. My work is not representational in that it is not the model’s story, and I do not draw the line between abstraction and realism in the generally accepted way.”
“I grew up with a severe hearing loss that made me impatient with language, so I relied on looking and visual expression. When I say, ‘I am looking for the non-verbal narrative,’ I mean the narrative that I can only tell visually.”
Fitzsimmons works full-time in his studio in the Delavan Studio Building in Syracuse. Recent exhibits of his work include solo shows at Chamot Gallery in Syracuse, Fitton Gallery near Cincinnati and the Hallway Gallery in Syracuse.