b. 1989, Dublin
Hannah Fitz’s sculptures are inexact versions of furniture and figures: familiar objects painted in a faded, near-monochromatic spectrum. Made in series, they appear to co-exist in a universe that omits us: a world in which action is arrested, colour is muted, light and shadow have form, and gravity seems less in control. In this departicularized sculptural landscape, the life-size occupants appear overly still as though suspended in time: cigarette smoke curls upwards from an ashtray; boxy TVs emit a dim glow of light; a football player on its knees with a shirt forever pulled up around its head. Piles of dyed blue clothing masquerade in the human form given by jeans, jackets, and dresses. Knitted scarves and misshapen footballs accessorise colour-drained sporting figures, like public sculptures that have been dressed up as a prank.
Fitz’s sculptures are carefully constructed, rejecting sleekness for a finish that is deliberately crude, scrappy and uncertain, articulated by curling lines and uncertain wobbles. Despite this ‘handled’ quality, they present a uniform, reductive version of their subjects. Fitz’s figures are featureless everymen, unidentifiable aside from their actions. Much like the figurines on top of trophies, they are honest about their inauthenticity, heightening the distance in acts of representation. “Any sculpture of a body is necessarily in some way a misinterpretation of a body”, Fitz told Elephant Magazine in 2017. “Its construction lets you know it’s just playing that part.”
Recent solo exhibitions include: OK, Kerlin Gallery, Dublin, Ireland, (2019); Knock Knock, Temple Bar Gallery + Studios, Dublin, (2018); In The light of the Lamp, Gallery Three, Douglas Hyde, Dublin, Ireland and Doggy Eyed Stare, Studio 16 Temple Bar Gallery + studios, Dublin, Ireland (Both 2016); The Way Things Go: An Homage, Butler Gallery, Kilkenny, Ireland; (2017); Bored with a hole, a two-person exhibition with Daniel Tuomey, National Collage of Art and Design, Dublin, (2016); Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo, Broadstone Gallery and Studios, Dublin, Ireland (2016) and Still in Set, FLOORONEGALLERY, Temple Bar Gallery + Studios, Dublin, Ireland (2013). Recent group exhibitions include: DISRUPTORS, Highlanes Gallery, Drogheda, Ireland; Tail and Heads, Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania, (All 2019) and Hannah Fitz, Aine McBride, Daniel Rios Rodriguez, Marcel Vidal, Kerlin Gallery, Dublin, Ireland, (2017).
Fitz is a recipient of the International Studio & Curatorial Program, Brooklyn, NY, USA.
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