Astrid Fitzgerald's Page

If there is a common thread to my work it is the desire to uncover the inner order in the world of appearances. I have always agreed with Emerson’s observation that "We must trust the perfection of the creation so far as to believe that whatever curiosity the order of things has awakened in our minds, the order of things can satisfy."

For me, that inner order has been manifest in the world through what is called philosophical geometry and in particular the Pythagorean principles, the Platonic Solids and most importantly the Golden Mean Proportion. This proportion, with its dynamic laws, is found not only in architectural designs from the ancient world to the present but also in nature itself. The squares, rectangles, arcs, and circles generated by this proportion have given me the means to explore the inner order of the creation.

In fact, I don’t recall ever starting a work without some geometric configuration – a simple division, a square, circle or grid. The dividing and ordering of the support – whether canvas, paper or wood – gives me a place to stand, a scaffolding, so to speak, from which to work, observing what it is that wants to express itself.

Rather than being limiting, the mysterious Golden Mean Ratio with its inherent harmonious and dynamic qualities, invites perpetual play and infinite possibilities. While some of my works hint at the underlying order and symmetry of the creation, as revealed in physics and cosmology, others explore by means of illusionism the insubstantiality of matter. The aim is always to convey the subtle movements from surface to depth, from the concrete to the insubstantial, from outer to inner realities, the effect bringing the apparent solidity of matter into question. - Astrid Fitzgerald