by Carolee Ross
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Francine Funke in her former Stamford Studio
photo by Carolee Ross |
In reviewing the work of artist Francine Funke, I am reminded of
the words of Dr. Meyer Shapiro at Columbia University, my art history mentor,
who explained the difference between a competent technical artist and an artist
who is a gifted genius.
He said, "In addition to the artistic skills and creative
imagination that are the foundation of the work of art, the superbly gifted
artist possesses an innate intelligence combined with an endless curiosity to
try to make sense of the world he or she inhabits."
Throughout the more than twenty years we’ve known one another --Francine
Funke's work has never disappointed me or fallen short of that definition.
Hopefully, one day soon I’ll be writing about her retrospective exhibition and
inclusion in the permanent collections at NYC’s Three Greats, The Museum of
Modern Art, The Whitney Museum of American Art and the Guggenheim.
For Francine Funke has a multitude of skills, whether it be the
creation of fine art, her expressive writing (Her book, “ON FIRE,
poem and paintings”, is in the library collections of the Museum of Modern
Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA, Museum of Contemporary Art,
Chicago, the National Museum of Women in the Arts Library, McNay Art Museum,
San Antonio, Texas, and the Cleveland Museum of Art). Add to that her innate problem-solving skills and ever-present
curiosity and you’ve got an artist who will be celebrated in the annals of art
history.
The Beginnings
I first met Francine Funke at a Loft Artists party in downtown
Stamford, Connecticut. Petite in stature, she was dressed as a ninja, ready for
battle against any nemesis. She invited me to her studio to see her newest
works and because I was always on the lookout for new artists to profile, I
accepted. There, large sculptural wall pieces, sketches, appointment books and
plans for new work filled almost every room, including an attic
workshop/studio.
Then, I was also told an intriguing
secret. Rock music was playing everywhere and the petite artist started to
dance. She looked at my expression of surprise and told me, “The connection between my art and dancing is simple. When I work,
I play music, usually high energy rock. When I hear rock music, I must dance to
it. So, I dance while I am working. Hopefully, the energy is transferred to the
canvas or whatever else I am working on. I like to do art because I like to
dance.”
As we explored her wide range of
work, she recalled a childhood filled with paints and pencils, and knew
instinctively that she was an artist. Her work developed in a step-by-step
evolution that began with her studies at Cornell University, where she studied
with famed painters, Jim Dine and Robert Rauschenberg, received a bachelor’s
degree in fine arts. She later completed her M.F.A. at Hunter College, working
under the auspices of another group of New York greats – Tony Smith, Ray Parker
and Robert Morris.
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Lockwood Mansion
by Francine Funke |
On view were her former series of chair paintings in all sizes,
shapes and varieties, a theme she had explored for ten years. When she looked
at a chair, she realized it was perfect because of her predilection for folding
or “pop-up” pieces. “The distance between the fold, the length of the legs and
the geometric planes lent themselves to the pop-up format,” she explained.
Eventually the chairs
metamorphosed into an entry piece for Rutgers National Sculpture Competition, a
Christmas exhibit at the Vanderwoude Tananbaum Gallery in New York and group
exhibitions including the Aldrich Museum in Ridgefield and the Bruce Museum in
Greenwich. There was also the excitement of having her work displayed in
Tiffany’s window, although Ms. Funke insists that doing the work is always more
of a thrill than showing it. Awards were plentiful for the artist and her
cacophony of chairs, including the award for sculpture at the Hudson River
Museum’s 68th Annual Competition and inclusion in the Connecticut
Commission on the Arts “Artists’ Showcase,” by Alan Chastick, then director of
the Yale University Art Gallery.
Fireworks Explode
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The Kuwaiti "Plume" Series
Part of the Fireworks Series
by Francine Funke
Photo by Carolee Ross |
With all this success, why did Francine Funke start creating fireworks? The space at the Barbara Braathen Gallery
where she was having a show was “humongous, making everything look tiny,” said
Funke. “Most of the pieces were in black and white. They needed some color.”
So, striations of red and orange were added in a spontaneous gesture. Combining
with the vortex created by the swirling moment of the special Oriental paper
she used, the color had an incendiary effect and fire was born.
“At the same time I started to add
flames to my work, things started happening,” Funke added. “The war in Kuwait,
the explosions, the fun fire, inspired me to do the “Plume” series, a reaction
to Hussein’s destruction of the Kuwaiti oil fields.” In the Plume works, the
backgrounds became ominous, dark maroon-red as fire mushrooms against the sky.
“I learned about the fingers of fire, explosions and the renewal that fire
gives, the purging which creates new life and new growth,” explained Funke.
In creating the sculptured paintings
from strips of Oriental rice paper, the artist fractures and reshapes the forms
into richly textured planes that overlap and intertwine against a background of
velvety blacks and grays. Treating the works as abstract explorations, they
become the quintessence of fire.
Her installation, “Plumes,” traveled to the Museum of
Art, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the Scottsdale Center for the Arts in
Scottsdale, Arizona, the Discovery Museum in Bridgeport and the Russell Senate
Rotunda on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, where her exhibition was sponsored
by Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut. “The colors in these works jump off
the canvas,” said the Senator. “I feel as though I am there, in the midst of
destruction.”
The Lost and Found Series - Acrylic
and Analine Dye on Canvas
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Midnight Bouquet #2
by Francine Funke |
Francine Funke writes:
“These works deal with the emptiness
left by fire and destruction
and the process of rebirth that
inevitably follows.
Emerging from the ashes, the loss, and
the despair,
the human spirit must find nature and
beauty in order to survive
In the Lost and Found Series, as in
nature,
botanical forms are the first to
emerge from obscurity.
These paintings are symbols of the
persistence of life in its most elemental form
in a world sometimes filled with
tragedy and darkness.”
The
name Lost and Found came from the process involved in the creation of the
artwork.
Writes
Funke in her Lost and Found artist’s statement: “I laid down many colors on the
canvas, and then covered the entire canvas with an overlay of deep sepia color.
Then I used a solvent to remove that wash and reveal the color underneath. I
removed the color, thinking of a botanical motif. It was a rather child-like
process, as, when we were kids, we put down scribbles of colored crayons, then
covered the whole thing with black crayon--and then used a pencil to draw. The
multi-colored lines underneath were always a surprise. I wanted a very old
world deep feeling--like a Rembrandt painting.
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Solar Bouquet
by Francine Funke |
The Mechanical Botanical Series
Fran
says, “After the Epiphany--the flood gates opened wide! I started taking
photographs and scans of every flower, weed, branch, leaf that I could find.
These botanical ingredients were the "raw materials" for composing my
mutated bouquets. Because I was manipulating everything on the computer
(flipping, turning elongating, duplicating) -- whatever I envisioned in my
mind, I could create immediately on the computer screen, at record speed. It
was instant gratification!
Sometimes,
I did not even know the exact progression of the work, or remember what I
actually did-- because it was going so fast.
And,
with every click of my mouse, I was amazed at the intricacies and other
worldliness of the fruits of my labor.
I
was on a wild visual, kaleidoscopic ride in which the combinations and
manipulations
of
my new creations were limited only by the limits of my imagination
Artist’s Statement about the
Mechanical Botanical Series
By Francine Funke
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The Flower of Notre Dame
by Francine Funke |
The
“Mechanical Botanical” Series, deals with the effects of Technology on Nature.
This new work combines photography, traditional subject matter, digital
technology, and my personal artistic vision.
The
Mechanical Botanical Series builds upon my recent interest in the persistence
and rejuvenation of plant life. All aspects of existence on earth are
inter-dependent, and continually developing, changing, and mutating. Based on
that premise, how will advances in modern science alter organic forms? And how
will that phenomenon ultimately be manifested?
As an artist,
all my skills and experiences ultimately influence my artwork—and in this case,
it was my knowledge of photography and the computer that led me on an exciting
journey of transforming beautiful botanical forms into a “weird science”
composed of strangely exquisite “techno-mutations”.
The discovery
of the “Mechanical Botanical” Series was an epiphany, and the process of
creating this work is intensely cerebral. In my mind, I can manipulate and
alter form and shape—and the computer will magically render it visually. My
collaboration with the camera and the computer never fails to surprise and
amaze me in some way—and I am perpetually learning from the results of our efforts.
In the end,
the “Mechanical Botanical” Series hopefully provides the viewer with a new and
startling way of looking at the world we now inhabit—and perhaps even a glimpse
into the hybrid universe of tomorrow.
Francine Funke's Mechanical Botanical #3 will appear at The Creative Arts Workshop, 80 Audubon Street, New Haven, CT 06510, (203) 562-4927 creativeartsworkshop.org - opening tonight, May 18, 2012 and runs through June 22: Boundless: New Works in Contemporary Printmaking, A National Exhibition with Juror Anne Coffin ,
Opening Reception: Friday, May 18, 5:30 - 7:30 pm
Free and open to the public
