The ‘DNA Laundry’ exhibition at The Vault, made from Kmart laundry hamper lids. Photo: Bryan Fitzpatrick.
Canberra artist Bryan Fitzpatrick didn’t plan on becoming the city’s most unlikely sculptor. In fact, for most of his life, he thought he had no artistic ability at all.
“I failed my six-week elective of art in Year 7 for drawing a terrible rotting capsicum in a boot,” he says.
“I just kind of took my art teacher’s word that my art wasn’t great.”
But now, at 47, Fitzpatrick is spending 30 to 40 hours a week chopping up discarded Kmart laundry hamper lids and turning them into sculptures that people are calling extraordinary.
Bryan Fitzpatrick with his haul of laundry hamper lids. Photo: Bryan Fitzpatrick.
His first major exhibition, ‘DNA Laundry by FlutterBry’, wrapped up on Saturday night (20 September) at The Vault, the cavernous warehouse-turned-events space at Dairy Road.
Over four nights, more than 100 of his plastic creations – jellyfish, fish skeletons, and other glowing, otherworldly forms – filled the space with what the venue described as a “psychedelic ecosystem of colour and form”.
“I don’t feel arrogant describing the exhibition as extraordinary,” Fitzpatrick says.
“Every single person that walked in either said ‘holy [expletive]’ or ‘wow’. They were wide-eyed, just astounded.”
The journey began, fittingly, at a bushdoof.
Fitzpatrick, who also runs an audio-visual company, was planning a party out by the Cotter when he realised he needed waterproof lanterns. His solution? Laundry hampers, flipped upside down with the lights inside.
A trip to Kmart provided the breakthrough. While the $7 hampers themselves were out of stock, the staff told him that customers regularly left the lids behind. Fitzpatrick walked out with 140 of them – and a new artistic obsession.
“The lids just had the most beautiful pattern in them, like butterfly wings,” he says.
“But I knew they looked out of place in the forest. I came home with this goal: can I make them not look like laundry hamper lids?”
“Countless” cable ties are also used. Photo: Bryan Fitzpatrick.
The first jellyfish-like sculpture convinced him. The second, a fish skeleton, sealed it.
“I just thought to myself: time you stop telling yourself you’re not an artist, old man.”
Part of Fitzpatrick’s creative awakening came from a New Year’s resolution scribbled on his bathroom mirror: “I am an artist.”
“I firmly believe the way you talk to yourself matters,” he says.
“You have to talk to yourself as kindly as you talk to anybody else. Writing that gave me permission to grow.”
He was slightly sceptical, but it worked.
Within weeks of posting his early pieces on Facebook, he was invited to exhibit at the National Folk Festival. From there, the laundry lids took over his life. He began door-knocking at Kmart stores across Canberra and the South Coast, pleading with staff for abandoned stock.
“Most of them are super happy when I show them what I do,” he says.
The Vault exhibition happened almost by accident. Fitzpatrick had loaned projectors and stage gear to the venue, then bumped into its founder, Dave Caffery. Instead of paying him in cash, Caffery offered the space.
The artworks aren’t for sale … yet. Photo: Bryan Fitzpatrick.
The result, ‘DNA Laundry by FlutterBry’, filled The Vault with sculptures, along with a DJ booth and big sound system, for four curated nights of music – from drum and bass to “retro cheese”.
“I probably had 70 people in each night,” he says.
“I’ve had hundreds ask if the artworks are for sale, but honestly, I’m having too much fun exhibiting them and getting free tickets to dance parties.”
For now, Fitzpatrick is in no rush to cash in. He dreams of showing his work at big festivals – Floriade’s NightFest, or anywhere with crowds in the tens of thousands – before parting with a single piece.
The only worry? Kmart itself.
“I’m terrified they’ll stop selling the hampers with lids,” he admits.
“If they do, I’ve got no idea what’s next. But if I could secure pallet loads, I’d happily keep making sculptures until I’ve got RSI in my right arm.”
