Tony Fitzpatrick bio

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tony fitzpatrick

Born in Chicago, 1958
Lives in Chicago

"I chose to make lithographs on Bible pages as a way of reclaiming some of my history -- you see, I am a refugee of a Catholic education. The Bible prattles on and on about Graven Images, so, natch, I want to make some of those. I chose the bo oks of Leviticus and Numbers because of the primo stuff that's in those chapters -- you name it -- you want plagues, we got 'em, and flies, boils, pestilence, locusts, frogs.

Putting my story on top of scripture in my mind gave me back some of my self -- it's like going back to the past with a rational eraser and putting right some of the guilt, shame, and original sin -- whatever that is. Now some folks may have a problem wit h messing around with the good book -- to them I say that faith repudiated is faith nonetheless, and I'm doing this with MY faith or lack thereof.

Fitzpatrick's creative endeavors also extend to his being a popular radio personality in Chicago, the author of several volumes of poetry, and the founder of the World Tattoo Gallery in Chicago in 1990 and his own Big Cat Press there in 1992. Among the public collections that contain Tony Fitzpatrick's work are the Art Institute of Chicago, Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the National Museum of American Art, Washington, DC.