Works °6 — MARY FITZGERALD

interview by Felicity Woolf; intro by the artist

ISBN 978 0946641 239      32 pages (paperback)    20x15cm     22 illus

Mary Fitzgerald’s interest in addressing aspects of Eastern and Western culture informs her work. In this book she discusses the language of abstraction, the communication process between the artist and viewer, the impact a serious accident (and her recovery) had on her work, and how feminism influences some of her ideas.

EXTRACTS

"Abstraction for me is the language of potential. As my work is an on-going process of investigation and not the presentation of a set of fixed conclusions, it seems natural to choose a means which allows for the greatest set of possibilities. Abstraction is the most significant development in the art of this century and has both a rich and varied tradition from which to draw, and enormous potential for the future. Language is something that has concerned me from the outset. Abstraction allows one to consider the specifics of one’s experience in the context of a universal language. It allows spatial and temporal freedom, an arena for working through experience, and an opportunity to build up many levels of meaning which reveal themselves to the viewer over time. Art is an expression of thought, and one gradually finds a ‘voice’ which articulates your thoughts and emotions. The finished works embody this process but they also have a physical presence. I see my work as a continuum and the nature of the work reflects this. I work in series, in installation format where each piece has a spatial relationship to the others and to the environment it inhabits. In this way the work has a physical relationship to the audience who share the same space; it begins the process of communication with the viewer."

— Mary Fitzgerald in conversation with Felicity Woolf