Tony Fitzpatrick lumbers through the subdivided confines of his new Dime Museum, occasionally stopping to bum a cigarette or write up another sale. Alert and poised as usual, he’s duded up and in the mood to celebrate. It’s a “private opening” in early February, sort of an informal dress rehearsal for the museum’s official public opening next Friday, March 12. Surrounded by a bevy of friends, family, and coworkers, Fitzpatrick is king of the night and loving it. Looser and more candid than this type of function normally allows, he works the crowd without playing favorites–a difficult task with so many fans under one roof–smoothly shifting gears between small talk and sales patter. Make no mistake: private or public opening, he remains all business and PR, having just pulled another creative scheme from his long sleeve of tricks.
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To hear Fitzpatrick tell it, the crowd’s buying mood represents something of a switch from his days as full-time curator and outspoken partner (he prefers “benevolent dictator”) of the World Tattoo Gallery, which occupies the sprawling space next door. There he learned that people will always show up when there’s free booze, but not always to buy art. World Tattoo was (and remains) a popular gathering spot for just about every one of its openings, but fronting the most coveted notch in the local party circuit wasn’t what Fitzpatrick the artist (and reformed drinker) had in mind. So now he’s got a new gallery that will serve as an outlet for his freshly honed passion–etching–and at the same time make art more accessible to the fledgling collector.
A few days before the opening, taking a break from a morning proofing session at his South Loop studio, Fitzpatrick tells of his disengagement from World Tattoo. “I guess our eyes were bigger than our stomach with World Tattoo. And for a while we weren’t sure if it was going to make it. We started off with four partners, then we were down to three and we were having some real problems. Personally, I wanted to spend my time making art, especially etchings. When I had to deal with the day-to-day involvement of [World Tattoo] and had to deal with every little thing, I would lose my mind.”
Joe Shanahan, owner and proprietor of the Metro, happened to be standing a little too close when Fitzpatrick coughed up the plan. He recalls the occasion:
Both Fitzpatrick and Shanahan agree that the most important function of the Dime is to issue truly limited editions while still keeping prices low.
Fitzpatrick’s quest for the Dime has paralleled his desire to master the technique of etching, a huge leap for a man whose medium has been predominantly drawing and painting. Fitzpatrick says the most daunting challenge he faced was learning to work without text, which has been a trademark from the very beginning of his career.
Fitzpatrick says he eventually would like to see the Dime Museum become a fertile, creative crest somewhat akin to Warhorl’s Factory. He has not, however, officially laid out the welcome mat for every starving painter or poet with a brimming portfolio.
