Art you should know: Teal Fitzpatrick
Teal Fitzpatrick is a fiber artist who creates non-traditional, hand-stitched, punch-needle rug art. Colorful and slightly uncanny, her work is visually stunning and provocative.
Of her work, Fitzpatrick states: “(I’m) Particularly interested in the intersection of what is aesthetically pleasing and what is emotionally startling, current works explore the impact of color, (dis)orientation within space, and archetypal and ancestral imagery.”
Emotionally startling and disorienting is accurate with pieces that feature intense color combinations and often phrases that evoke an internal disturbance. Teal’s work is a refreshing take on abstraction. While much of this genre leans towards neutral tones and vaguely recognizable shapes (mine included), hers is sharp. Never giving too much away, each piece contains imagery that is identifiable only at the surface level - a window, a hallway, a door, a face - except that the perspective is limited. Perception tied with acute use of color and light makes for an uneasy and enthralling viewing experience.
Original Art by Teal Fitzpatrick
Original Art by Teal Fitzpatrick
Teal’s most recent body of work titled ART MONSTER pushes into relationships between the artistic and mundane. The collection invites viewers to ask difficult questions such as, what is the relationship between creativity and selfishness? What must be given up in order to give form to something else? How literally do we bring the monsters that haunt us and the monsters we embody into our visible work? How do we meet the monstrous parts of ourselves with curiosity and compassion?
ART MONSTER points toward what is made possible through artistic obsession and also what is lost when turning away from the mundane and ordinary. New worlds and beings come into creation, sure, but there are also dishes in the sink, calls left unanswered, reminders of a life left behind. It both celebrates what is found and grieves what is lost in pursuit of a creative life.
ART MONSTER by Teal Fitzpatrick opens at Studio 4 Gallery (@studio4pgh) in Bloomfield on May 3, 2024 at 5pm. The show runs until the end of the month.
