Chris Fitzwater

My work, while rooted in the figurative tradition, is in a state of constant flux in regards to aesthetics, composition, and style. I approach paintings as objects beyond their pictorial surface, working mostly with found or existing images from a wide range of sources suited to my concerns of the moment. The material constraints of each painting – reclaimed materials or raw wood ripped for stretchers – are all integral aspects to every work. It is within these material parameters that my relationship to the work, through painting, becomes apparent. With each piece, I tend to work within a restricted palette of tones, emphasizing the value of the subject. This is a tactic to better command the viewers’ shared experience of the work, in the same way a telescope serves to channel and frame our experience of the cosmos. While each specific painting is produced with a specific set of concerns in mind, the whole of my practice can be understood as an investigation of self and other, the high drama of interior life, and of historical conceptions of time and value.