Painting architecture: Tommy Fitzpatrick’s fractured modernist visions
Tommy Fitzpatrick’s new series of electric-hued architectural paintings capture the American artist's 30-year fascination with modernism
- (opens in new tab)
- (opens in new tab)
- (opens in new tab)
- Sign up to our newsletter Newsletter

Tommy Fitzpatrick has long had a fascination with how buildings are made. Growing up in the Dallas suburbs, the downtown urban environment became a magnet. ‘I’ve always liked modernism and Bauhaus, and found that urban areas had a similar quality of newness and futurism,’ he tells Wallpaper*.
An exhibition of new paintings, titled ‘Site’, at Qualia Contemporary Art in Palo Alto, California, marks a departure in Fitzpatrick’s conventional approach: instead of painting from life or photographs, he turned to computer-aided design (CAD) software to create renderings that he then translated into paint. ‘When it comes to architecture, I often find myself loving the renderings more than buildings themselves; they’re a proposition of the fact,’ he explains.
In 1998, Fitzpatrick assisted American minimalist artist Frank Stella with a mural installation in Houston. The experience had a deep impact on Fitzpatrick and encouraged him to transition from smooth, seamless compositions to geometric, electric-hued explosions.
Above: Tommy Fitzpatrick, Sino. Below: Compound, both 2021
Fitzpatrick is drawn to buildings both for their ephemerality and longevity, particularly modernist architecture that once heralded a better society. The artist has also explored architectural projects that never came to be; his 2017 series Crystal Cities was inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright’s unrealised Washington, DC project of the same name.
Fitzpatrick’s paintings present both the ruins and utopian potential of his subjects, and a record of past ideals. ‘Things come and go, that is reflected in our architecture’, he says. ‘Buildings that were once a remarkable feat of their time go out of style and are knocked down for the latest innovations. But there seems to be a quality within certain buildings and landmarks that acts as a universal commonality.’
His works almost sculptural in depth, Fitzpatrick stretches his architectural subjects to their abstracted extremities. What might have been roofs, windows, glass and steel fracture into shards of impastoed ambiguity.
Tommy Fitzpatrick, Victoria, 2021
The artist's fascination with architecture and construction extends to his tools, materials and processes. Fitzpatrick begins by pouring acrylic paint onto the canvas in a similar manner to how cement is poured to make brutalist buildings. He uses tools one might find on a building site, like concrete placers and trowels, to concoct and cut through congealed slabs of paint. The painted surface protrudes like a relief to such an extent that its peaks cast their own shadows.
Fitzpatrick structures his paintings like an architect plans a building: the foundation, the frame, and the exterior. ‘When you look at the painted surface you can tell how the paint was laid down in my work. It’s a frozen human moment; suspending action in one image.’
Tommy Fitzpatrick, Geomorphic, 2020
Tommy Fitzpatrick, Villa, 2021
Tommy Fitzpatrick, Tower, 2020
Tommy Fitzpatrick, Monument, 2020
INFORMATION
Tommy Fitzpatrick: ‘Site’ 10 April-28 May 2021, Qualia Contemporary Art
qualiacontemporaryart.com
tommyfitzpatrick.com
ADDRESS
328 University Ave
Palo Alto, CA 94301
VIEW GOOGLE MAPS (opens in new tab)
Harriet Lloyd-Smith is the Arts Editor of Wallpaper*, responsible for the art pages across digital and print, including profiles, exhibition reviews, and contemporary art collaborations. She started at Wallpaper* in 2017 and has written for leading contemporary art publications, auction houses and arts charities, and lectured on review writing and art journalism. When she’s not writing about art, she’s making her own.
-
Berlinde de Bruyckere on religion, chaos and decay: ‘simplicity is the territory of humans’
Ahead of her show at Hauser & Wirth Zurich, Limmatstrasse we speak to Belgian sculptor and visual artist Berlinde de Bruyckere on her show ‘A simple prophecy,’ on from 26 January – 13 May 2023
By Martha Elliott • Published
-
Under-the-radar bag labels to know
From New Zealand to Japan, get to know the under-the-radar bag labels eschewing trends in favour of long-lasting good design
By Tilly Macalister-Smith • Published
-
Rala Choi: ‘Now is the time to ask photographers about what photography is’
We profile rising star photographer Rala Choi, whose vivid, ethereal images draw on the legacies of art history
By Sophie Gladstone • Published
-
The best art gifts for the creative in your life
With Valentine's Day 2023 on the horizon, get inspired with our ongoing guide to the best art gifts
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published
-
New York art exhibitions: what to see this winter
Stay up-to-date with our ongoing guide to the best new and upcoming New York art exhibitions and events for your diary
By Tilly Macalister-Smith • Published
-
London art exhibitions: a guide for early 2023
Your guide to the best London art exhibitions, and those around the UK, as chosen by the Wallpaper* arts desk
By Harriet Lloyd Smith • Published
-
Ceramic artists: top trail-glazers breaking the mould
A way with clay: discover the contemporary ceramic artists firing up the canon into a new age
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published
-
10 best art exhibitions to see in 2023, picked by Wallpaper* arts editor Harriet Lloyd-Smith
To usher in the new year, Wallpaper’s arts editor Harriet Lloyd-Smith highlights the best art exhibitions to see in 2023, and there’s a lot to look forward to
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published
-
Gavin Turk: ‘My art is always other people's art’
We interview British artist Gavin Turk, whose show ‘Kerze’ (candle) at Ben Brown Fine Arts is an ode to Gerhard Richter’s candle painting, with an uncanny twist
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published
-
Veronica Ryan wins the 2022 Turner Prize
Veronica Ryan, the artist who honoured the Windrush generation, has been named winner of the 2022 Turner Prize in a ceremony held in Liverpool
By TF Chan • Published
-
An art history of Château Mouton Rothschild wine labels, from Lucian Freud and Niki de Saint Phalle to Peter Doig
We take a closer look at Château Mouton Rothschild’s 2020 vintage label designed by artist Peter Doig and look back on the house’s fruitful history of artist collaborations
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Last updated