'Angela Merkel', 2015

Hong Kong 2016
'Angela Merkel'

Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery

Painting
varnish and penetrol on perspex
214.0 x 194.0 (cm)
84.3 x 76.4 (inch)
Dale Frank is one of Australia’s foremost contemporary painters. His paintings are characterized by an immediacy of process and a tense urgency of vision, the method of which he has mastered over several decades. Despite the appearance of serendipity, Frank controls his dynamic and intense process to achieve highly conscious outcomes. The images are literally brought to the surface through calculated action as the varnishes become thicker and more complex, trapping the colours and the evidence of the process under the surface, creating a depth of pictorial space and a three dimensionality. Frank’s works Angela Merkel (2015) and The Welsh (2015) are stunning examples of the artist’s characteristically rich aesthetic, as it evolves through his recent explorations into new materialities. In each case, a reflective background is disrupted by a spill of penetrol, establishing a depth of space that beckons the viewer into the work. Vibrant and formally tense, these works envelop all those who pass them.