Jillian FitzMaurice

Jillian FitzMaurice’s most recent works capture a longing for the ease, beauty and glamour of that new Hollywood life. The kind of life you see in reality TV and music videos. Using black and white collage, painting, and drawing, the works repeat the image of the palm tree several times over. The images speak on the comfort and repetition of the familiar image of the palm tree. Often we relate this tree to cinematic LA, Hollywood, and exotic vacations. This symbol expresses opulence and glamour associated with a life of ease – somewhere a lot of us want to be. Between screens of reality TV and scrolling through Instagram, we pass over these images of clear skies adorned in palm trees like a subconscious oasis.  

These trees of paradise depict a subtle, quiet sadness. The lack of color and minimalist style adds to this mood, while negative white space makes this utopia feel far away. The Hollywood dream is a paradise lost. Yet it’s still there just in reach –  leaving you longing for this distant idea of ideological perfection.

Jillian FitzMaurice (b. 1988) is an artist based out of Denver, CO. While drawing and painting are her primary mediums, she also works in the realm of performance, video, and installation pieces along with artist collaborations. The subjects of the work live in a dream-like domain with influences of surrealism, nature, wildlife. Trips to rural Southwest Texas and other various adventures in that region have greatly inspired the themes of her recent work. She received her BFA in Drawing from the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design in 2011 and has studied abroad at the Burren College of Art in Ballyvaughn, Ireland. Her work can be found in exhibitions and collections throughout the United States, Ireland and Great Britain.