People We Respect – Tony Fitzpatrick

01-26-05: The Sun-Times says Tony Fitzpatrick’s latest book, The Wonder: Portraits of a Remembered City, Vol. 1, “captures an urban reality born out of both darkness and light. … With his vibrant colorful work, Fitzpatrick creates a feast for the senses.” View it here.

TKO Tony Fitzpatrick Lives Up to His Name

Tony Fitzpatrick’s first career wasn’t as an artist. After the Chicago Golden Gloves, Tony turned pro and entered the prizefight game. He hung up his gloves after discovering he had more magic in his hands and in his heart than anyone ever imagined. Now he’s a (deservedly) world-famous artist. But he still fights, only for different prizes.

His last bout was on behalf of PROMISE, the street-based prostitute-rescue operation in San Francisco, and it was a first-round KO. Tony hosted an auction at the superb Vedanta Gallery which raised an incredible $7,837.77 in one night, thanks to the generosity of some of Chicago’s finest artists. An amount this size might mean nothing to one of the mega-bucks “charities” that spends most of its budget on fancy hotel suites and fund-raising banquets, but, to PROMISE, it’s the world. In addition to Tony and the Vedanta Gallery, The Zero humbly and respectfully thanks all the artists listed below for their class, their generosity, and the sharing of their gifts.

Rodrigo Avila

Steve Campbell

William Conger

William Frederking

Tony Galigo

Charles Gniech

Marc Hauser

Richard Hull

Doug Huston

George Klauba

Anna Kunz

John Langford

Sam Messer

Teresa Mucha

Gladys Nilsson

Ed Pachke

Tom Reed

Diana Sudyka

and also the Unsinkable Molly Briggs, without whose tireless coordination this event could never have happened, much less scored so highly.