 |
Art In America 2001Jan Frank and Robert Stanley at Steven VailAt first glance a show of paintings by Jan Frank and Robert Stanley seems an unlikely coupling: heavily worked, subtle abstractions versus brassy photo-realist nudes. It turns out, however, that these two artists share a certain fascination with the female body. Working directly from nude models, Frank creates sensuous, quasi-abstract evocations of the female body through curving lines and fragmented marks. His paintings are full of erasures, redrawn lines and strokes partially covered with translucent white paint. For the careful observer, they offer a whole world of pentimenti. In contrast to his previous paintings, which were done on plywood or corrugated cardboard, Frank's recent works are painted on finely woven linen primed with a gesso that is intended to change color over time. As the ground grows from subdued white to warm gray over the next decade this change, says the artist, will have an enormous effect on the look of the paintings. As the ground darkens, the effect of the successive layers of drawn lines and overlaid transparencies will become more pronounced. For all their sensuousness, these oblique evocations of the female body come across as emotionally removed: cool, detached, voyeuristic even. — Dennis Raverty |
In Stanley's work, the theme of voyeurism is more evident. When he emerged in the early 1960s with works such as his high-contrast, photo-based paintings of Beatles concerts, he was grouped with the Pop artists. In his later years, Stanley, who died in 1997, frequently painted highly sensual, vividly colored female nudes. A feminist reading of his later work, which sometimes walks a fine line between high-art traditions and commercial Playboy-style imagery, might consider these portraits of nude young women as the voyeuristic fantasies of an aging male painter. Indeed, there is something shocking at first in the over–the–top sensuality of these passionately painted women. One suspects that Stanley knew how objectionable these paintings might be to some viewers, and that impressive painterly virtuosity he brought to them was partially meant to forestall such criticism. Despite the interesting, unexpected affinities between these two artists' works, the bravado of Stanley's paintings tended to overpower Frank's smaller, more subtle canvases. But the show was effective in affirming the continuing importance of — and varied approaches to — the nude in contemporary art.