Leo Fitzmaurice

b. 1963, England

Leo Fitzmaurice’s makes work about his situation. He develops tactics to process ‘the stuff of information’ within our environment – shop windows, packaging, brochures, magazines, flyers, even road signage. He is most interested in situations where ‘information-objects’ are turned up to maximum. In his work he maintains the essence of this type of material whilst removing its original function and message. After freeing this material of its original function, he believes we can be left with kind of wonder. Fitzmaurice’s view is akin to that of a curious outsider. Free of the exigencies of practical engagement, he seems to find, however temporarily, a kind of fulfilment in this everyday material

The work shown at e v+ a was first developed in a project called Further up in the air. This project was situated in a soon-to-be-demolished brutalist tower block in Liverpool, where Fitzmaurice was working on the 13th floor with views over the city. The work became, simultaneously, a response to material he was finding in the ‘empty’ flats and also to modern consumer-architecture.

(Text: e v+ a – matters catalogue, 2010)