WADE WILSON ART PRESENTS DANIELLE FRANKENTHAL: COLOR DRAWN IN SPACE

Artist’s First Houston Solo Exhibit Showcases Unique Paintings on Acrylic Panels

Houston (July18, 2008) - This fall Wade Wilson Art will launch the first Houston solo exhibition of work by American abstract painter Danielle Frankenthal.  The exhibit, entitled “Color Drawn in Space” will open with a reception celebrating Frankenthal’s innovative and unique artwork Sept. 5 from 6 - 9 p.m. and will remain on view through Oct. 11. 

Residing in Hoboken, NJ, Frankenthal is a disciple of the Radical Concrete movement.  Based upon an ideology that lines and colors are concrete by themselves and should be represented without any symbolical association, Frankenthal’s marks and strokes are meant to show little or no emotion. She states, “I believe that my work is coming out of concrete painting, is part of concrete painting, and has gone beyond concrete painting all at the same time.” Furthermore, she challenges assertions made by Yves Klein in his essay “The War: A Little Personal Mythology of the Monochrome,” where he states that “line and color are at war.” Frankenthal, instead, chooses to unite the two, and explore the effects of light and shadow in doing so and, according to Wade Wilson, “Frankenthal makes of line and color one thing.”

Her unique style of artwork is created by reverse acrylic painting upon two acrylite panels. Frankenthal then mounts the paintings facing each other, and allows space to remain between the panels in order for ambient light to pass through the transparent and translucent paint and cast changing shadows and reflections on the wall. These shadows constantly move and change as they are affected by various sources of light, and present a deep, complex background from which spring swift, colorful strokes of paint. Contained within their plastic casing, energy bursts from her gestures, and as if Frankenthal has managed to suspend space, we are able to watch time pass within her paintings.

Of the many mid-sized works featured in Frankenthal’s upcoming exhibition, her untitled  47 x 47 inch piece featuring a pallet of whites and a small smattering of other hues shines brightly. Gestures composing the painting vary from thinly swerving, long flowing lines, to broad, circular strokes and lead the eye to explore every corner. A few streaks of bright orangish-red peek out from the white and gray dominated painting. Cloud-like shadows follow Frankenthal’s brushstrokes and produce an ethereal effect. Upon viewing the presence of the paint strokes, combined with the effect of a reflecting background, the viewer is presented with a sense of simultaneousness, as many elements exist and move separately but in conjunction throughout Frankenthal’s work.

Frankenthal has held numerous solo and group exhibitions in United States and Latin America throughout her illustrious career. She was most recently featured at Wade Wilson Art in a 2006 joint exhibition with painter Joseph Marioni. Frankenthal’s work has also been highlighted in The Dallas Morning News, The New York Times, Decor Magazine and The San Antonio Express News.