Leo Fitzmaurice’s practice is grounded in a process of roaming and observation, appropriating existing languages, with a focus on the overlooked and the ubiquitous. Ultimately he calls into question our perception of our environments; for OH V HO the gallery has been transformed into a mise-en-scène, comprised of a range of objects, items and materials traditionally used in the installation or de-installation of an exhibition.
At the entrance a scaffold tower obscures the entrance of the gallery. Once negotiated a plastic sheet divides the space in half. Seemingly abandoned packing materials, step ladders, trestle tables and generally all manner of technician detritus litter the space. Upon closer inspection each item in the first half of the room is minutely reflected in the second half, as if a mirror runs down the centre of the room. A suspension of disbelief creeps in as the installation teeters on the edge of illusion. An accumulation of detailed evidence provides greater weight until the faculties of the mind eventually regain their equilibrium.
OH V HO seeks to unhinge reality. The illusion unmoors our conventional relationship with the objects and materials, their original function becoming secondary to the overall transformation. The exhibition continues Leo Fitzmaurice’s interest in the world we have designed for, and around, ourselves. The show focuses on the essential characteristic of symmetry, both in the objects we design, and our relations to them.
Leo Fitzmaurice b. 1963 Newport, England. Lives and works in Merseyside.
Solo exhibitions include: Frieze London Sculpture Park, 2015; /|\, The Sunday Painter, London 2014; You Try to Tell Me But I never Listen, New Art Gallery Walsall, 2011; Sometimes the Things You Touch Come True, Yorkshire Sculpture Park 2007; Neat Stuff, Firstsite Colchester 2005. Group exhibitions include Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Yorkshire, 2016; Reader, Gether Contemporary, Copenhagen, 2016; Edit/Undo, Space In Between, London, 2015; DATA (curated by Shiri Shalmy), Contemporary Art Society, London, 2014; Easy Does It (Curated by Kevin Hunt), David Dale Gallery, Glasgow, 2014; Chain Chain Chain (curated by Glenn Adamson), Bischoff Weiss, London, 2012; The way we do art now, curated by Pavel Buchler, Tanya Leighton Gallery, Berlin, 2010; Flyersflagsheepself, Seventeen Gallery, London, 2010. Fitzmaurice was the recipient of the 5th Northern Art Prize in 2012. Fitzmaurice’s work is in the Arts Council Collection of England, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Manchester Art Gallery, The Royal London Hospital (Vital Arts), The Locus Plus Archive and numerous private collections.
