Pure Painting
New Paintings - 2003 - Dale Frank Dale Frank is an Australian painter who rose to prominence fairly rapidly in the early to mid eighties and hasn't looked back since. Today his work is in many major museum collections all over the world. His work is an enigma to many critics in an age where painting is viewed more or less as an anomaly or a second rate adjunct to other more trendy contemporary media practice. The paintings are highly colourful, abstract works fashioned by pouring and manipulating different combinations of resins and varnishes over the surface, sometimes in conjunction with other materials. Tracing his production over the last 15 years it appears to me though, that there are two bodies of work in his total output. The more dominant group is painted with a wider range of colours and leans toward a louder lyrical abstraction with plenty of colour and movement in the compositions. The second group leans toward the more minimal and austere monochromatic tradition in Western painting. This second group is more interesting to me and i'd like to have a quick look at it.
The Big Black Bubble - Installation - 2009 - Dale frank Here you can see an installation of large paintings from 2009 at Anna Schwartz Gallery in Melbourne Australia. The photo gives some idea of the visual weight of the paintings. Physical scale makes them a challenge to paint and to control the flow of liquids across their surfaces. The luscious quality of the gloss surfaces alternately attract and repel the viewers gaze making them awkward to engage with because of the question of content. The viewer may well ask, "What am i supposed to see?" There is something obtuse in the way these paintings obfuscate immediate gratification but that's the point! The only speedy thing received from looking at these works is a feeling of discomfort and exclusion from the world that these images represent, namely, the unknown. Ah yes, these paintings are about the mysterious world of painting and the birthing of images that do not reveal themselves easily. To enter here, there will be a struggle and it will take time, something not many who engage with the work are willing to do.
Look at the surfaces though, slick as they are! Juicy, sensuous, slathering, dripping and pooling of monochromatic shades of colour appear as if suspended or trapped in a moment of time. This is the trick though because in reality the paintings were composed by the artist manipulating flows of varnish from underneath at periodic intervals as they coagulated and dried during a protracted period of time. In fact we are looking at a series of symphonic colour shows frozen at their apex by the conductor. Revealed are the possibilities inherent in the nexus of artistic choice and the deft manipulation of materials based on Frank's extensive knowledge of their behaviour. The picture gallery below depicts the beautifully enigmatic and sensitive nature of the more monochromatic paintings that have appeared in Franks oeuvre periodically over many years.
Look at the surfaces though, slick as they are! Juicy, sensuous, slathering, dripping and pooling of monochromatic shades of colour appear as if suspended or trapped in a moment of time. This is the trick though because in reality the paintings were composed by the artist manipulating flows of varnish from underneath at periodic intervals as they coagulated and dried during a protracted period of time. In fact we are looking at a series of symphonic colour shows frozen at their apex by the conductor. Revealed are the possibilities inherent in the nexus of artistic choice and the deft manipulation of materials based on Frank's extensive knowledge of their behaviour. The picture gallery below depicts the beautifully enigmatic and sensitive nature of the more monochromatic paintings that have appeared in Franks oeuvre periodically over many years.
In recent paintings (see slide show below,) Frank has upped the ante a bit by provocatively pouring his paint and solvent mixtures over various types of coated plexiglas and mirror combinations. This move opens new avenues for surface exploration by the artist. Where do you go, can you go when you are in the corner but back out of it! Abstraction is a corner that the artist must continually work his/her way out of. This is the challenge! Take what you have and make it new again or at least fine tune what has gone before.
These new works are opalescent in quality, analogous of blurry underwater or foggy/smoky scenes in some strange netherworld. There is a continuation of that beautiful, sensuous and often diaphanous flow of muted colour swirling across each surface. The difference with this series of paintings is the introduction of a wavering and sometimes almost indistinct horizon line moving through what appears to be a background. This changes Franks methodology from flat paintings sans depth to paintings that at least introduce a sense of spatial depth onto the picture plane. It appears to me that figuration is attempting to elbow its way into these new works as allusive as they are and i feel this must be intentional on the part of the artist.
The introduction of gold frames takes Frank full circle back into the history of "framed art" and the politics of "framing" a picture. Is this an attempt at creating distinct fictions or simply a device that the artist felt conducive to featuring the qualities in the work. Or is it a joke, a sly jab at the world of "high art" which for the most part has embraced his work and given him the success he enjoys today. This, in the face of what some critics have called an art "empty" of content, superfluous, "eye candy" for the aesthete and for the most part irrelevant in this "digital age."
Whatever the artists intention, these are enigmatic and paradoxical paintings but at the same time optically distinct and unique. Give credit where it is due, as i think Frank has managed to pull another rabbit out of the hat in addition to extending the current dialogue on "painting." These pictures are a departure from his previous work yet they remain true to the "ethos" of "pure" painting. Frank understands the issues in painting that make it both a difficult yet necessary practice in an impersonal age of "new media." The artist is always ready with sardonic witty titles for his works that befuddle but his belief is in the creation of handmade paintings that totally involve the artists sensibility and humanity.
Download this balanced review from Art Guide about Dale Frank.
These new works are opalescent in quality, analogous of blurry underwater or foggy/smoky scenes in some strange netherworld. There is a continuation of that beautiful, sensuous and often diaphanous flow of muted colour swirling across each surface. The difference with this series of paintings is the introduction of a wavering and sometimes almost indistinct horizon line moving through what appears to be a background. This changes Franks methodology from flat paintings sans depth to paintings that at least introduce a sense of spatial depth onto the picture plane. It appears to me that figuration is attempting to elbow its way into these new works as allusive as they are and i feel this must be intentional on the part of the artist.
The introduction of gold frames takes Frank full circle back into the history of "framed art" and the politics of "framing" a picture. Is this an attempt at creating distinct fictions or simply a device that the artist felt conducive to featuring the qualities in the work. Or is it a joke, a sly jab at the world of "high art" which for the most part has embraced his work and given him the success he enjoys today. This, in the face of what some critics have called an art "empty" of content, superfluous, "eye candy" for the aesthete and for the most part irrelevant in this "digital age."
Whatever the artists intention, these are enigmatic and paradoxical paintings but at the same time optically distinct and unique. Give credit where it is due, as i think Frank has managed to pull another rabbit out of the hat in addition to extending the current dialogue on "painting." These pictures are a departure from his previous work yet they remain true to the "ethos" of "pure" painting. Frank understands the issues in painting that make it both a difficult yet necessary practice in an impersonal age of "new media." The artist is always ready with sardonic witty titles for his works that befuddle but his belief is in the creation of handmade paintings that totally involve the artists sensibility and humanity.
Download this balanced review from Art Guide about Dale Frank.
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Dale Frank has been an inspiration to me for some time mainly because he is engaged with painting as "practice," experimenting with the possibilities of the medium in the face of a sometimes hostile and unreceptive critical agenda. Some academics can't understand why painting just won't die and go away. For some reason they fail to grasp the limitless possibilities of this "human" medium so enchanted are they by the conservative "museum" program of control.
Frank is a reminder of the inventive potential of painting and a demonstration of why it'll never disappear. I admire his tenacity and belief in the painting project. I also admire his moments of calm (lucidity?) where his paintings take on an ethereal quality that is hard to define. For me, these paintings in particular set up a mysterious vibration that is hard to turn away from.
Below are some links with informative reviews of Dale Frank's work.
http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2013/aug/21/review-dale-frank-nobodys-sweetie
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/08/12/1060588374303.html
http://www.blouinartinfo.com/news/story/1055623/the-fluid-dynamic-of-conceptual-painter-dale-frank-at-roslyn
Frank is a reminder of the inventive potential of painting and a demonstration of why it'll never disappear. I admire his tenacity and belief in the painting project. I also admire his moments of calm (lucidity?) where his paintings take on an ethereal quality that is hard to define. For me, these paintings in particular set up a mysterious vibration that is hard to turn away from.
Below are some links with informative reviews of Dale Frank's work.
http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2013/aug/21/review-dale-frank-nobodys-sweetie
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/08/12/1060588374303.html
http://www.blouinartinfo.com/news/story/1055623/the-fluid-dynamic-of-conceptual-painter-dale-frank-at-roslyn
