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.
–Tony Fitzpatrick
Fitzpatrick’s creative endeavors also extend to his being an actor, a popular radio personality in Chicago, the author of several volumes of poetry, and the founder, in Chicago, of the World Tattoo Gallery in 1990 and his own Big Cat Press in 1992.
