Approved: 23.02.2017

Robert Fitzmaurice

Artist, Curator

Approved: 23.02.2017

I make paintings, prints and ceramics that balance figurative and abstract elements using vibrant colour relationships. I am very interested in the art of the past, especially medieval and Indian art, whenever the figure appears to the viewer in a frontal stance. Some kind of encounter is implied and this gives me a framework to explore in contemporary terms the relationship between artist, artwork and viewer.

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      Artist Statement

      I make paintings, prints and ceramics that balance figurative and abstract elements using vibrant colour relationships. I am very interested in the art of the past, especially medieval and Indian art, whenever the figure appears to the viewer in a frontal stance. Some kind of encounter is implied and this gives me a framework to explore in contemporary terms the relationship between artist, artwork and viewer.

      I tend towards small scale works that combine flat forms and irregular grids of contrasting colours to conjure a presence. Each work evolves over weeks or months and I think this slow process also requires the viewer to invest time to look and look again. My compositions can be thought of as visual concoctions that layer references in an emblematic manner, contrasting flatness and three dimensionality, surface and illusion, to compound meaning. My starting point may be visual or literary; enduring influences include Spanish Romanesque painting and the poetry and prose of Borges and Lorca.

      I find the many stories we have invented to explain the universe and our place within it to be a profound mixture of the beautiful, the bewildering and the absurd. Across different cultures there are many touchpoints divided by meaning. Today, in our globally connected world, this paradox makes singular interpretations impossible, even if this was the artist's original intent. These conditions create a sense of constraint and liberation, a set of parameters for me to work with, and for the viewer to meet with on their own terms.

      CV & Education

      SOLO EXHIBITIONS  

      2023 No Sudden Moves, West Berkshire Museum, Newbury
      2021 Relations, Stories, Magic, Nuneaton Museum and Art Gallery
      2019 NO EDEN, Greenham Common Control Tower, Newbury  
      2018 Companion Pieces, no format Gallery, Deptford  
      2018 SOLDIER, Sandham Memorial Chapel, Burghclere  
      2017 To & Fro ??, Peacock Gallery, Reading  
      2016 The peace which passes..., OHOS, Reading  
      2013 The Heart’s Long Coast, More Arts, Wokingham  
      2011 Recent paintings, Meller Merceux Gallery, Oxford  
      2011 From here on in, Corn Exchange, Newbury  
      1988 Artist of the Day, Angela Flowers Gallery, London

      SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS  
      2023
      Condition Critical, 571 Gallery, Reading
      SFSA Drawing Open, no format Gallery, Deptford
      2022
      38th Annual Open, Southwark Park Galleries, London
      SFSA Drawing Open, no format Gallery, Deptford
      Altered States, Shaw House, Newbury
      Of Geometry and Gods, Side by Side, Sandham Memorial Chapel, Burghclere
      2021
      TILT 2021, Hoxton Gallery, London
      Absent Authors, APT Gallery, London
      2020  
      Hastings Open, Hastings Museum & Art Gallery, Hastings  
      After the Pandemic - Visions for Radical Renewal, Swarm Dynamics, Are.na  
      HouseBound: Bathroom, CAS, curated by Susan Francis  
      2019  
      SFSA Painting Open, no format Gallery, Deptford  
      35th Annual Open, Southwark Park Galleries, London  
      In Reading Gaol by Reading Town, Turbine House, Riverside Museum, Reading  
      Creekside Open, selected by Sacha Craddock, APT Gallery, London  
      Triangulations, OHOS, Reading  
      2018  
      SFSA Painting Open, Deptford, London  
      Imago, OHOS, Reading  
      Diptych, Triptych, Polyptych, PS Mirabel, Manchester  
      Open Exhibition, NN Contemporary, Northampton  
      2017  
      Winter Salon: Power Play, The Concept Space, London  
      Rye Winter Salon, Rye Creative Centre, Rye, Sussex  
      SFSA Painting Open, No Format Gallery, London  
      Discerning Eye, Mall Galleries, London  
      As it stands, 100 Years Gallery, London  
      Small World, PS Mirabel, Manchester  
      New Prints / Summer Selected by Katherine Bradford, IPC, New York  
      2016  
      4th Intl Juried Print, New Grounds Gallery, Albuquerque, New Mexico  
      Shifting States, Espacio Gallery, London  
      Innervisions, International Print Center, New York  
      RA Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London  
      Spectrum, PS Mirabel, Manchester  
      2015  
      MONO II, Espacio Gallery, London  
      Desire Lines, OHOS, Reading  
      Colour & Materials, Espacio Gallery, London  
      TwitterArtExhibit, Moss, Norway  
      2014  
      Heaven + Hell, Espacio Gallery, London  
      Hanging Tough, OHOS, Reading  
      A Book about Death, Royal Cambrian Society, Wales  
      Constellation, Reading Museum and Art Gallery  
      Original Print Fair, Espacio Gallery, London  
      2013  
      Strata, Espacio Gallery, London  
      Emergence, Espacio Gallery, London  
      2012  
      Original Print Fair, Espacio Gallery, London  
      Face to Face, Espacio Gallery, London  
      Viewpoints, Espacio Gallery, London  
      Echo, OHOS, Reading2011  
      Would you like and why not? OHOS, Reading  
      Take off, New Greenham Arts Centre, Newbury  
      Send Me A Postcard Darling, The Red Gate Gallery, London  
      NUIT BLANCHE: Parcel Fever, OHOS, Reading  
      2009  
      KAMIEN (Stone) e-mail Art Project, MOKSiR Chelmek, Poland  
      1994-2000  
      Numerous shows at the Jelly Leg'd Chicken Gallery, Reading  
      1988  
      Berkshire Artists Group Show, Windsor Arts Centre  
      1987  
      Four Painters, Darlington Arts Centre  
      Take Six, Chisenhale Studios, London  
      1986  
      Three Painters, Cleveland Gallery, Middlesborough  
      1983  
      Sunderland Artists Group Show, Washington Arts Centre  
      Northern Artists, Gallery Seven, Newcastle  
      Tyne Tees Northern Open, Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle and tour  
      Whitworth Young Contemporaries, Manchester  
      1982  
      Engelsk Grafikk, Gallery F15, Norway

      BACKGROUND AND EDUCATION  
      1960 Born Nuneaton, Warwickshire, United Kingdom  
      Since 1984 lives and works in Reading, Berkshire

      1984-86 University of Reading, MFA (Painting)  
      1983-84 Studio with Sunderland Artists Group  
      1980-83 Sunderland Polytechnic, BA (Hons) Fine Art (First Class)  
      1979-80 Coventry Lanchester Polytechnic

      AWARDS  
      2021
      Eaton Fund
      Arts Council National Lottery Project Grant (Relations, Stories, Magic)
      2020  
      Arts Council National Lottery Project Grant  (Absent Authors)
      Arts Council Emergency Response Fund
      Arts Council National Lottery Project Grant  (Of Geometry & Gods Side by Side)  
      2019  
      Oppenheim-John Downes Memorial Trust  
      Arts Council National Lottery Project Grant  (No Eden)
      2017  
      Oppenheim-John Downes Memorial Trust  
      1983  
      Purchase prize, Tyne Tees Northern Open  
      1982  
      First prize in Magnolia Mouldings National Landscape Competition

      CURATION AND PROJECTS  
      2021 Absent Authors, APT Gallery, London  
      2016 WordUp! collaboration with Peter Driver for Reading's Year of Culture

      COLLECTIONS  
      Sunderland University  
      Magnolia Mouldings  
      Reading University  
      Angela Flowers Gallery  
      Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts  
      And private collections in UK, Europe and China

      PUBLICATIONS, TALKS & MEDIA  
      2022 In conversation with Tess Charnley at Nuneaton Museum
      2022 Podcast: Considering Art with Bob Chaundy
      2021 Feature in Imagine magazine, vol.1
      2021 ‘Housebound’, Chapel Arts Studios, exhibition catalogue
      2020 Review of 'Threads: Two Generations of Painters through Time'  
      2020 Interview with Anna McNay for Studio International  
      2020 Public talk 'Background and Influences', Friends of Reading Museum  
      2019. Panel discussion with Dr. Rebecca Johnson, Güler Ates & Kirsty Harris  
      2019 In conversation with Lucy Cox at Greenham Control Tower
      2018 In conversation with Lucy Cox at no format Gallery (live event & film)  
      2018 Interviewed by Laura Brown for Bloop Magazine  
      2018 Interviewed by Lucy Cox for Painters Today podcast, episode 7  
      2018 ‘SOLDIER’ exhibition catalogue
      2018 Editorial Team selection for ArtMaze Mag, issue 6, January  
      2017 Featured image in Discerning Eye catalogue  
      2016 Talk: ‘The peace that passes all understanding’, OHOS, Reading  
      2016 Talk: ‘Forms of Exchange: the journey from source to motif’, NGA
      2015 ‘Eliza's Entertainments’, images for poetry by Adrian Blamires  
      2014 Interview on the Palette Pages  
      2014 ‘Transformations’, a contemporary working of Ovid's Metamorphoses  
      2014 ‘Heaven + Hell’, catalogue with an essay by Anna McNay  
      2012 FAD News Q&A  
      2010 ‘From here on in’ exhibition catalogue, essay by Adrian Blamires  
      1988 ‘Artist of the Day’, exhibition catalogue, Angela Flowers Gallery