Andy Fitz
Kerlin Gallery is pleased to announce Lookieloo, an exhibition of new work by Andy Fitz.
Hannah Fitz’s sculptural work is formed out of the familiar, surrounding us with objects that seem of this world, but instead, present expressionist deviations from it.
In Lookieloo, Fitz introduces three different groups of sculptures, distinct but interwoven. Wooden boxes appear in drag, dressed up and overtly ‘acting out’ as pieces of furniture, with extruding closet doors, drawers and handles. Standing lamps join forces to become ornamental railings, each presenting different expressions of a standardised fence pattern. Populating this quasi-domestic landscape, a series of plaster figurines evoke twee garden statues or mantelpiece figurines from a bygone era.
The world built up by Fitz’s sculptures is neither an alternative one nor a fantastic or utopian outside. Instead, it creates aberrations within an overarching pattern, paying attention to tiny gestures that can expand our possibilities in experiencing and articulating the world.
Installation view, Andy Fitz, Lookieloo, 2023
Ghosting
2022
plaster, paper mache clay
25 x 18 x 13 cm / 9.8 x 7.1 x 5.1 in
Hannah Fitz
Pinocchio’s Bitter End (Rest in Glory, Whole Again)
2022
wood, paint, graphite
205.5 x 97 x 175 cm / 80.9 x 38.2 x 68.9 in
Hannah Fitz
Journey's End (Electric Fence)
2022
steel, wiring, lampshades, bulbs
184 x 163 x 26 cm / 72.4 x 64.2 x 10.2 in
Hannah Fitz
Desire Lines (Electric Fence)
2022
steel, wiring, lampshades, bulbs
184 x 216 x 25 cm / 72.4 x 85 x 9.8 in
Hannah Fitz
service top cowboi w strap
2022
plaster, paper mache clay, rope
31 x 19 x 12.5 cm / 12.2 x 7.5 x 4.9 in
Hannah Fitz
Pinocchio's Bitter End (Snuffed Out!)
2022
wood, paint, graphite
98 x 107.5 x 72.5 cm / 38.6 x 42.3 x 28.5 in
Hannah Fitz
The Problem With Standing Still 2
2022
plaster, paper mache clay, wire
24.5 x 17.5 x 13.5 cm / 9.6 x 6.9 x 5.3 in
Hannah Fitz
Pinocchio’s Bitter End (Lying Knows What Eye Nose Knot)
2022
wood, paint, graphite
64 x 157 x 56 cm / 25.2 x 61.8 x 22 in
Hannah Fitz
Home Sweet (Electric Fence)
2022
steel, wiring, lampshades, bulbs
184 x 216 x 25 cm / 72.4 x 85 x 9.8 in
Hannah Fitz
Pinocchio’s Bitter End (Being Real)
2022
wood, paint, graphite
164.5 x 42 x 55 cm / 64.8 x 16.5 x 21.7 in
Hannah Fitz
Welcome (Electric Fence)
2022
steel, wiring, lampshades, bulbs
185 x 181.5 x 26 cm / 72.8 x 71.5 x 10.2 in
Hannah Fitz
Us (little events occurring in time, repeating ourselves to each other and to the world)
2022
plaster, paper mache clay, wire, string
32 x 24 x 20.5 cm / 12.6 x 9.4 x 8.1 in
Photo by Charlotte Bonjour © Charlotte Bonjour
Hannah Fitz
(b. Dublin, 1989)
Hannah Fitz works primarily with sculpture, making inexact versions of figures, furniture and familiar objects. Made in series and painted in a faded, near-monochromatic spectrum, their work reflects back a departicularised version of the world in which actions are disjointed, light and shadow have form, and gravity seems less in control. Their sculptures are carefully constructed, but rejects sleekness for a finish that is deliberately crude and scrappy, articulated by curling lines and uncertain wobbles. Human figures become uniform and featureless everymen, like the figurines on top of trophies, while clothing and household objects seem animated, teetering towards one another as if in communication, inhabiting a shared universe that omits us. There is a playfulness to their work, but also a sense of unease: these ambiguous sculptural forms appear suspended in time, acting more like images than objects.
Fitz has been the subject of solo exhibitions at Temple Bar Gallery + Studios, Douglas Hyde Gallery’s Gallery Three and Kerlin Gallery in Dublin; and L21 Gallery in Mallorca. Forthcoming exhibitions include Kunstverein Göttingen, Germany (solo, April 2023) and The Complex, Dublin (group, August 2023). Recent group exhibitions include Elvira, Frankfurt; Spoiler, Berlin (all 2021); Portikus, Frankfurt (2020); Highlanes Gallery, Drogheda; Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius (both 2019); 12 Star Gallery, London (2017). Fitz is a recipient of the International Studio & Curatorial Program, Brooklyn, NY, USA.
Hannah Fitz's exhibition at Kerlin Gallery has been reviewed by Frank Wasser for Frieze Magazine.