Chicago artist Tony Fitzpatrick

Tony Fitzpatrick (American, b. 1958)

from Wikipedia.com:

Tony Fitzpatrick is an American artist born and based in Chicago.
Fitzpatrick begin seriously drawing with pastels on slate board in a store front in the town of Villa Park, Illinois. He worked by day and bartended at the bar across the street, at night, in the early 1980s. During that time, he developed separate friendships with Chicago radio personality and bluesman Buzz Kilman and film director Jonathan Demme. Demme and Kilman are longtime friends, and the three became close. As a result, Tony has starred in a few of Demme's films and other films as well.

During the late 1980s, he begin getting gallery shows in Chicago and New York City, establishing connections that would lead him to be a successful working artist who has sold paintings to several film directors, among others. Tony is also an accomplished poet and has published several books of his art and poetry, including The Hard Angels and The Neighborhood. Sports often figures into his art and poetry, especially his favorite baseball team, the Chicago White Sox, but he also gains inspiration from the city of Chicago, and the underbelly of society. Tony in his past has been a boxer, bouncer, and bartender

Judy A Saslow Gallery