M A T R I A R C H O F T H E M O D E R N M A N
Matriarch of the Modern Man by Stephen Fitzgerald aka Steve Fitz has been produced in the style of polychrome sculpture Influenced by Jean-Léon Gérôme, and is originally associated with Ancient Greece and Rome and describes pigmented decoration or gilding applied to a sculpture. The style was later revived in the neoclassical period of the 18th century and applies to contemporary works. The application with this theme provides a truly solid visual impact as rare as it is startling. This epic 3D fantasy artwork caries a powerful social message to usher in a new age and spearheads my current series focused on the mystery and power of women.
“Matriarch of the Modern Man” was created using brush work reminiscent of the renaissance masters for startling realism to address the reality of pressing issues impacting women today. The scroll in the sun of “Matriarch” is Pictish from the Scottish Pict tribe and can be translated. Pict women fought naked alongside their men to stop the advance of the Roman Empire and represents the power of women in all ages. Navigating an ever changing ocean the hand leading the way is postured like the hand in the Creation of Adam to suggest the first woman. The second woman, with eyes closed, informs us that she is an apparition, a dream or an alter-ego. The overall feeling projected is one of strength and confidence riding a chariot of satin or silk spurring on the waves into the future.
Matriarch of the Modern Man can be viewed in the September 2024 Spring edition #40 of Art Edit magazine.
Extract from the Art Edit article:
Throughout the late 19th and 20th centuries, the rebels and renegades of the art world moved further towards abstraction, leaving behind realism in favour of explorations of colour, composition and line. NSW based artist Steve Fitz sees his practice as rebelling in turn against dominant aesthetic trends, bringing the body back into focus. “It’s more than just depicting physical bodies”, says the artist, “it’s about capturing the emotions, stories, and complexities that reside within them. Figurativism allows me to delve deep into the psyche, expressing the beauty, struggles, and vulnerabilities of humanity through the language of form and gesture.” Having in the past looked to Romanticism, Modernism and the Old Masters, the artist’s most recent works bring together contemporary concerns with a stylistic approach informed by masters of the Academic and Neo-Classicist styles such as Jean-Léon Gérôme.
This period saw artists looking to Classical Rome and Greece for inspiration, informed by the graceful marble statuary that was being unearthed at great speed across Europe. Echoes of a golden age made their way into art, championing the physical perfection artists saw in these ancient works. Unlike Gérôme however, Fitz does not see these figural masterpieces as remnants of a glorious lost world, but rather as a device to glorify the inhabitants of our modern one. At a time where women’s rights are being compromised the world over, Fitz looks to venerate the female form as a monument to the power of women, in all their emotional complexity.
Matriarch of the Modern Man sums up his approach to Figurativism. Utilising a style that brings Neo-Classical figuration firmly into the modern realm of digital art, we see two figures, solid as marble and soft as flesh. Pictish symbols draw on chronicles that speak of Pict women fighting naked alongside their men to stop the advance of the Roman Empire. The women are both potently powerful and distinctly feminine, beautiful and multifaceted. By adhering to figurativism, Fitz can incorporate historicity and modernity, rebelling via the emotive potential of realism.
PLEASE NOTE: The 100cm x 150cm oil painting "Matriarch of the Modern Man" is my exhibition centerpiece and subsequently is not for sale. If you really want one, A1 Posters are available delivered free in a crush proof cylinder at cost price.
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