Black Soil Warrego Highway (Esk Turnoff) West Morton Anglican Boys College, 2003, Dale Frank
Varnish on linen, 200cm x 260cm
Provenance: Anna Schwartz Gallery, Melbourne. Mossgreen, Melbourne.
Exhibited: Anna Schwartz Gallery, Melbourne 2005.
Dale Frank is one of Australia’s foremost contemporary artists. Best known for his vivid abstract paintings, his practice also includes sculpture, drawing, performance, film, and installation. Frank’s multidisciplinary approach allows him to experiment with finding new power to bring to his painting. Highly acclaimed both internationally and on Australian soil, and has had exhibitions throughout Europe and the United States at prestigious galleries and museums such as the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam and the Solomon R. Guggenheim in New York (1).
West Morton Anglican Boys College Entrance: Road Gates Bus Shelter 3:15pm by virtue of its very title is a sensory overload; as equally an eyeful as it is a mouthful. Using his characteristic technique of pouring different varnishes onto canvas, the colours in the work flow into each other and combine to create a swirling, whirpool effect. Toying with what Frank describes as the ‘integrity’ of colour, the composition is born of materials that defy structure or predictability. And although criticized for his perceived lack of formal consistency, it is the sheer inconsistency of the materials that Frank describes as ‘opportunely interesting’. Frank’s work is not figurative, and so for many, the most perplexing aspect is the absence of easily discernible messages or any definable meaning of the work. It is a commentary on texture and composition, an example of what many would coin as ‘avant-garde’. (Dale Frank, So Far: The Art of Dale Frank 1980-2005, Black Inc (Schwartz Publishing), February 2008)