Christopher Engel

Canyon (Abstracted Landscape Painting, Oil on Canvas in Sky Blue & Yellow)

2010-11

Abstract landscape of fern leaves in a dense forest painted in dark gold and bronze against black and muted turquoise "Chasm", painted by Frank Faulkner, c. 2007 60 x 48 x 1.5 inches, acrylic on wood panel Wire backing for secure installation Signed, verso This minimalist abstract landscape was painted by Frank Faulkner in 2007. The artist captures a scene of an abstract floral motif of gilded fern leaves in dark gold and bronze against a dark forest landscape. The floral motif and leaves are constructed with built up acrylic that creates an impasto surface, similar to a relief. Silhouettes of hands painted in black and white polka dots are captured behind several of the leaves, further accentuating the painting's alluring textural quality. The painting is unframed and the edges reveal drips from the layers of paint applied the surface. More about the work: Revered artist and designer Frank Faulkner was well known among locals for his handsome restorations of prominent historic proprieties on Hudson’s Warren Street and beyond. It is apparent that the applied arts like classical architecture, Persian rugs, chinoiserie, and Samurai armor greatly influenced his own painting style. His technique employs a rich variety of texture and color evoking the qualities of mosaics and tapestry. According to the artist, the paintings on view experiment with representational imagery. Central designs are positioned in spaces suggestive of landscapes where the settings utilize horizon lines and natural, atmospheric light. Organic compositions take their cues from natural flora endowed with fantasy, which intentionally disorient the viewer. These works present the argument for the imaginary versus the empirical world. About the artist: Born in Sumter, South Carolina in 1946, Frank Faulkner received his B.F.A. from the University of North Carolina in 1968, Phi Beta Kappa, and his M.F.A. from the same institution in 1972. Faulkner’s work quickly won him numerous grants and awards, including an individual artist grant from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1974. He was selected for the Whitney Biennial in 1975, which prompted him to settle in New York. There, he came to the attention of Dorothy Miller, Curator Emeritus of the Museum of Modern Art with a legendary eye for new talent. Since then, Faulkner has continued to garner acclaim and awards. He has been featured in dozens of one-person exhibitions (not to mention group exhibitions) in this country, as well as in Japan, Switzerland, and Germany. Faulkner’s work is owned by leading museums (the Smith College museum in Northampton, Massachusetts, for example, the National Museum of American Art and the Hirshhorn in Washington, D.C.) and by renowned collectors such as Nelson Rockefeller, Baron Leon Lambert, Phillip Hanes and Abba Eban. What a viewer first notices is the sheer elegance of the pieces, no matter what materials Faulkner uses—metal, wood and fabric as well as canvas and paper. Obvious, too, is the artist’s originality. Faulkner belongs to no school. His work is patterned but is far too intellectual to qualify as so-called “pattern art,” which mainly strives to be merely pretty. Rather, he paints in his own highly organized way, filling the surface without being excessive or boring. Faulkner sets up a system, say, of dots or dashes, then subtly changes the visual rhythms in order to add life and surprise—what he calls “the gymnastics of seeing.” He works and reworks the surfaces of his canvases, often laying down one thin layer of slightly reflective gold, silver or bronze paint upon another until the final work seems to glow with inner light. John Ashbery, a leading critic and poet, has likened Faulkner’s art to minimalist music, which achieves both simplicity and beauty from its obsessive repetitions. The critic Carter Ratcliff describes it more simply as “brilliant artifice.” Faulkner’s current work, a series of paintings on paper, continues and deepens this exploration of the relationship between wrought surface and changing light. Another striking aspect of the work is the influence of the decorative arts. Faulkner has made some paintings on wood that stand independently and fold open like screens. Other pieces resemble large tapestries, and yet others take their inspiration from Art Nouveau inlays...

Abstract landscape of a floral leaf motif with a patina of dark silver and dark bronze "Abstract Flora III", painted by Frank Faulkner, c. 2010 60 x 48 x 1.5 inches, acrylic on wood panel Wire backing for secure installation Signed, verso This minimalist abstract landscape was painted by Frank Faulkner in 2010-12. The artist captures a scene of an abstract floral motif with long leaves that fan outwards. The subject in the center is framed with a vignette of dark fern leaves around the edges of the painting. The floral motif and leaves are constructed with built up acrylic that creates an impasto surface, similar to a relief. The painting is unframed and the edges reveal drips from the layers of paint applied the surface. More about the work: Revered artist and designer Frank Faulkner was well known among locals for his handsome restorations of prominent historic proprieties on Hudson’s Warren Street and beyond. It is apparent that the applied arts like classical architecture, Persian rugs, chinoiserie, and Samurai armor greatly influenced his own painting style. His technique employs a rich variety of texture and color evoking the qualities of mosaics and tapestry. According to the artist, the paintings on view experiment with representational imagery. Central designs are positioned in spaces suggestive of landscapes where the settings utilize horizon lines and natural, atmospheric light. Organic compositions take their cues from natural flora endowed with fantasy, which intentionally disorient the viewer. These works present the argument for the imaginary versus the empirical world. About the artist: Born in Sumter, South Carolina in 1946, Frank Faulkner received his B.F.A. from the University of North Carolina in 1968, Phi Beta Kappa, and his M.F.A. from the same institution in 1972. Faulkner’s work quickly won him numerous grants and awards, including an individual artist grant from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1974. He was selected for the Whitney Biennial in 1975, which prompted him to settle in New York. There, he came to the attention of Dorothy Miller, Curator Emeritus of the Museum of Modern Art with a legendary eye for new talent. Since then, Faulkner has continued to garner acclaim and awards. He has been featured in dozens of one-person exhibitions (not to mention group exhibitions) in this country, as well as in Japan, Switzerland, and Germany. Faulkner’s work is owned by leading museums (the Smith College museum in Northampton, Massachusetts, for example, the National Museum of American Art and the Hirshhorn in Washington, D.C.) and by renowned collectors such as Nelson Rockefeller, Baron Leon Lambert, Phillip Hanes and Abba Eban. What a viewer first notices is the sheer elegance of the pieces, no matter what materials Faulkner uses—metal, wood and fabric as well as canvas and paper. Obvious, too, is the artist’s originality. Faulkner belongs to no school. His work is patterned but is far too intellectual to qualify as so-called “pattern art,” which mainly strives to be merely pretty. Rather, he paints in his own highly organized way, filling the surface without being excessive or boring. Faulkner sets up a system, say, of dots or dashes, then subtly changes the visual rhythms in order to add life and surprise—what he calls “the gymnastics of seeing.” He works and reworks the surfaces of his canvases, often laying down one thin layer of slightly reflective gold, silver or bronze paint upon another until the final work seems to glow with inner light. John Ashbery, a leading critic and poet, has likened Faulkner’s art to minimalist music, which achieves both simplicity and beauty from its obsessive repetitions. The critic Carter Ratcliff describes it more simply as “brilliant artifice.” Faulkner’s current work, a series of paintings on paper, continues and deepens this exploration of the relationship between wrought surface and changing light. Another striking aspect of the work is the influence of the decorative arts. Faulkner has made some paintings on wood that stand independently and fold open like screens. Other pieces resemble large tapestries, and yet others take their inspiration from Art Nouveau inlays...

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oil on canvas

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