Robyn A. Frank uses color and shape to explore ideas of change, relationships, and our sense-of-self through thoughtfully crafted paintings, prints and art objects. Frank will join us for an opening reception and artist talk on Friday, April 12.
"My work is a celebration of change. Thinking about change as the cyclical duality of creation and loss; like ebb and flow, birth and death, inhale, and exhale. Something like big life changing moments to small imperceptible ones — a constant cycle happening with or without our attention. The work frames change as relational experience and practice. This relational practice is a constant co-creation of experiences amongst people, given any particular conditions or circumstances. And to bring to that idea of change and relationships, as active and create-able. Just as we are, right now, creating this moment together through words and print.
Visually, these ideas are explored through format, shape, and color. Some pieces are diptychs or triptychs, such that the panels are inherently in relationship to one another and exist as a part of a whole. Often, I use repeating or reflecting shapes to represent duality of self — the innate up and down of all things — or to symbolize change across time or context. Color is used symbolically. Gradients are a literal expression of transformation, of change. The gradient fields connect to observable sky hues during specific times of the day and times of the year. Moreover, color grounds the sense of place of my work in New Mexico.
I live and work in Albuquerque, New Mexico. These are occupied Tiwa lands, the closest Pueblos being Sandia, and Isleta. The Tiwa name for the Sandia Pueblo is Tuf Shur Tia. The Tiwa name for the Isleta Pueblo is Shiewhibak." - Robyn A. Frank