artist statement
My work over the past thirty years has been oriented around various forms of portraiture, figurative art, storytelling, typography, and the more dreamlike aspects of contemporary realism. I work primarily in oil paint, although I often range into ink on paper, charcoal and graphite, and even computer-based illustration. In terms of themes and moods, I gravitate toward works that have a bit of danger and strangeness to them, but I also like to have fun. In my process, I often go back and forth between controlled and loose styles. This rotating of the crops, so to speak, keeps the work fresh and alive. The choice of medium is sometimes whimsical, but is often calculated to convey a certain mood or experience that I find best communicates the subject.
I’m interested in a variety of subjects, from mechanical objects to landscapes or fabric - but my favorite subjects are always the human face and body. I think of each subject as a potential inroad toward a formal exploration of shifting pathways of color, rhythms of texture and line, edge and shape. I’m very interested in how this orchestration of visual elements can convey movement. This movement adds up to a kind of visual language that communicates thoughts and ideas in ways that can be powerful and wholly untranslatable. I’m interested in that quality of language in part because I’m the only hearing member of a deaf family. American Sign Language is my first language, and the idea of physical movement as both an expressive and linguistic force is very real to me. Facial and physical expressions tell stories and express moods. Engaging with these expressions has become, for me, a legacy of my experience growing up in the deaf community.
Some recent series I’m working on are “Churn” and “War Boy”. “Churn” is a series of paintings of fabric in motion, simple as that. It brings to the canvas my fascination with fabric’s almost liquid quality. In motion, fabric can become oceanic, seemingly vast in its interaction with light, and painting such movement has become a meditative experience for me, as I hope it is for the viewer. This series is perhaps my most intentional foray into abstraction while still remaining fundamentally realist. I wanted to paint still lives that are anything but still.
“War Boy” paintings typically feature a child wearing a military helmet with antlers on it, posed in scenarios of violence and play. Ultimately, this series is an exploration of how violence and play are inherent to being human, as they are how we learn to navigate interactions with others. In fact, I believe a great part of growing up consists of learning how to distinguish between the two. Exploring this dynamic, however, has brought to mind the tragic global history of child soldiers, childhood trauma, and the many ways children can grow up too quickly or not at all. This series is very close to my heart both as a parent and as a former kid myself.
A sampling of my work can be found on this site or, for more recent works in progress, you can follow my Instagram feed @frank_gallimore.