Colleen Fitzpatrick is a visual artist and academic based in the West of Ireland, working predominantly as a painter engaged in expressionistic painting using a variety of mediums, where abstract meets figurative. Colleen’s art aims to create an affective atmosphere, focusing on the individual, the other and environment including our interaction with and reaction to the world. Colleen obtained her B.A. in Fine Art from the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology in 2010 and previously studied at University College Dublin, graduating with a Masters in Research Psychology in 1992. Colleen’s interest in psychology is evident in her art. In 2016 Colleen completed a PhD in the Philosophy of Art and Culture at NUI Galway, exploring the relationship between mindfulness and painting within a phenomenological framework. Colleen has published and presented numerous papers on the philosophy of art, both at home and abroad and has published art reviews for Circa Art Magazine, Visual Artists Ireland and Book Reviews for Books Ireland. Colleen collaborated on the Stir Project at TULCA 2014 as a member of the Galway based Branch Collective and has exhibited in a number of solo and curated exhibitions including Westival and the Linenhall Mayo Artist’s Biennale Show.
Colleen considers art to be an amalgam of all our experiences and influences blended through memory and imagination. Art should be visually compelling; senses are the first port of call and art must beckon in a sensuous way – no explanation should be necessary. Colleen’s current work is about the place we occupy in the world. This place is fraught with tension, ignorance and narcissism as well as joy and hope.
“Through my art I hope to highlight that we do not occupy the top rung of a hierarchy but are a vulnerable part of our world, like other animals. In order to avert the environmental crisis and live peacefully in our communities we need to develop self-consciousness, humility and a proportioned sense of ourselves, recognising that we occupy a place, not the place, in this world.”
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