every big city around the world has underpasses that are underused and neglected. But they make a perfect setting for an LED installation, which can completely change the character of an underpass making it more appealing, especially for pedestrians.” With his brilliantly colored LED installations, FitzGibbons specializes in transforming once-dark and avoided urban underpasses into resplendent public thoroughfares, such as his Light Channels animating the I-37 underpasses at Commerce and Houston streets connecting downtown San Antonio to the East Side. Currently, he’s working on plans for LED installations for four underpasses in Washington, D.C. He’s also created architectural installations, such as the San Antonio Colorline that emblazons the downtown Brady Green Clinic of the University Health System, and public spaces, such as the Culebra Plaza with a circle of 14-foot-tall LED-lit steel “beacons” at Gilbert Garza Park. On the drawing board are projects for VIA’s West Side Transit Center and the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts. Currently, FitzGibbons is included in Texas Sculpture Group 2014 curated by sculptor James Surls on view through Sept. 27 at Houston’s Lawndale Art Center. In early 2015, he will be one of six Texas artists featured in a group exhibit at the Lalit Kala Akademi (National Academy of Art) in New Delhi, India. He’s also been invited to participate in San Antonio’s DiwaliSA, the Festival of Lights, which will be held Nov. 1 at Alamo Plaza. “I’ve had a pretty full plate since leaving the Blue Star, but I’m not slowing down,” FitzGibbons says. For the future, he’s planning to develop a mixed-use, multistory building across from his studio in the Lone Star Art District, also known as the South Flores Arts District. He’s been a driving force behind the sprawling Second Saturday in SoFlo art walk.
68 On The Town | September/October 2014
“This is truly a grassroots artists community and one of the most active scenes in Texas,” FitzGibbons says. “My plan is to develop a three-story building on the three lots we own across the street. The first floor will be retail, the second floor will have studio lofts for rent, and the top floor will be living quarters for Anne (his wife) and me. We’re talking to an architect and hope to begin construction in the fall of 2015. It’s an exciting time to be an artist in San Antonio.”