Derek Fitzpatrick

My paintings do not aim to illustrate a specific landscape rather they use the form of “landscape” as a vehicle to allow for a looser more subjective exploration of the tactile quality of paint. The paintings do not represent real spaces but rather the work could be seen as an attempt to give the sense of a psychological state. I am interested in the medium's potential to portray feelings. The paintings sometimes include features which can be identified as belonging to the landscape but often develop into something entirely abstract.

The paintings are not pre-planned and develop intuitively out of the physical process of manipulating paint. Each brush stroke is informed by the one that preceded it. A single brush stroke can completely change a painting. The process for me is the interaction of accidents and my will as an artist: a play between the conscious and the subconscious. In a way the process of painting always involves an element of chance. Before one makes a stroke, one cannot entirely predict the way the paint will appear on the surface though one maintains some control over the substance in choosing to keep certain accidents as they occur and discard others.

Words cannot fully describe what a painting is about because it is a substance, it is not about words. Paint as a substance has its own language which is non-verbal. Painting should not need to be explained as regards its own nature, but should be able to exist by itself, standing on its own.