Distillation of a scene
Kevin Fitzgerald landscapes reflect quiet moments in time
BY SHARON LORENZO INDEPENDENT CONTRIBUTOR
Kevin Fitzgerald's work can now be seen from Annapolis to Santa Fe. but it always feels at home in Nantucket where he has captured some of our finest gifts, namely the quiet moments of dawn or the breathtaking slip of a summer sun into the sea. Trained in the visual arts at the Maryland Institute, Fitzgerald has been painting in the landscape of America for more than 30 years, distilling the shadowy lanes, ponds, bogs and seasides onto canvases, which reflect the spirit of these places in quiet tonal oils. His canvases are brought to life with his "secret sauce" - a medium of varnishes which makes the oils shimmer in the light of day.

This year's production includes work from the battlefields of the Civil War. A work entitled, " Shiloh Evening," is representative of the quiet mournful beauty of this 4200-acre national park in Shiloh, Tenn. which stands as a monumental remembrance to the more than 23,000 thousand souls who were slaughtered in this spot in April of 1862. This quiet town still claims a that the Shiloh Meeting House, a small building named ironically after the Hebrew word meaning peace. Fitzgerald has captured the sense of the place with layers of under-painting and preparation of his canvases with oil and glaze that is suggestive of sfumato atmospheric painting, which began with da Vinci and has continued in the modern painting tradition through the 19th century Barbizon and Hudson River schools.

The critics who have reviewed the work of Fitzgerald in the past have commented that his painting is like poetry - there is something in it that is experienced way beyond the written word. Art student Joannah West said, "How can a painting stir what living things cannot, with one textured sweep of the brush?" Renoir said a good painting is like the flavor of a freshly picked orange - something you understand in the senses and not the intellect. Fitzgerald has brought an array of works to the island this summer which are deep, rich and deserving of a respectful visit to the East End Gallery. They are so spiritual that the eye, mind and heart reach out to these paintings with reverence and admiration for a talented artist whose life's work brings joy and meaning to

others. I