paul kasmin gallery

7 months: 33 drawings & one painting
new york city, may 2011

Paul Kasmin Gallery is pleased to present “Seven Months,” a solo installation of over thirty ink drawings and one painting by the New York artist Jan Frank.

Made over a period of seven months on handmade paper with ink and commercial correction fluid, the drawings in this portfolio range from near-literalism to near-abstraction. Their abstraction becomes intensified when, to use Jackson Pollock’s words, Frank “chooses to veil the imagery,” by using white out to obscure sections of each drawing. The curator Dominique Nahas has described this process of addition and subtraction as “a singular synthesis of deliberate method and high-risk intuition. By allowing impulsive strokes to occur, even to fail, everything that happens remains; nothing is eliminated.”

Throughout his career, Frank’s study of the female nude has coincided with his investigation and appropriation of the line within the Abstract Expressionist tradition. The organic, winding lines in these drawings recall Willem de Kooning’s fragmented figures. Frank also cites the strong, early influence of Piet Mondrian, whose compositions taught him to value both positive and negative space. While acknowledging the deep art historical roots anchoring Frank’s practice, the art historian B.H. Friedman believed that “Whatever his influences…Frank is clearly an independent and original artist who celebrates important contemporary traditions leading to his unique images.”

Jan Frank was born in Amsterdam and first exhibited his work in New York at The Kitchen in 1977. His works are in numerous public and private collections and he exhibits widely throughout the United States and Europe. He is currently working on a comprehensive exhibition of paintings on plywood at the Kunstruimte Wagemans (Beetsterzwaag, NL). Additionally, Frank will mount a recreation of his 1970’s video installation work in Palermo, Italy.