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Rachel Frank
2005

resides in United States  / New York
www.rachelfrank.com

 
Title Sleep of Reason: A Sculptural Performance
Year 2010
Materials Acrylic Paint, Light, Clothing/Fabric, Other, Photographs
Size Variable
Brooklyn / New York
United States
frank.rachel.e@gmail.com
media
Performance, Installation, Mixed Media, Prints, Sculpture, Drawings, Works on paper
materials
Acrylic Paint, Light, Clothing/Fabric, Glass, Pen & Ink, Wood
styles

Education:

2005    Masters of Fine Arts, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA

2005    Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan, ME

2005    The Royal College of Art, Exchange Program, London, England

2003    Bachelors of Fine Arts, Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, MO

Selected Exhibitions:

2010    Departure/Arrival; Curated by Jonah Criswell & Maria Buszek, La Esquina, Kansas City, MO

2010    Sleep of Reason: A Sculptural Performance; Written and Directed by Rachel Frank, The Bushwick Starr, Brooklyn, NY and Vaudeville Park, Brooklyn, NY

2009    Black Pool; Solo Show, Mariboe Gallery, Peddie School, Hightstown, NJ

2009    Will It Happen?; Elga Wimmer Gallery, New York, NY

2009    Postcards from the Edge, Metro Pictures, New York, NY

2008    Dream Tigers; Vaudeville Park, Brooklyn, NY

2008    Solid Gold; Vox Populi, Philadelphia, PA

2008    Works on Paper; Cuchifritos, New York, NY

2007    A Muzzle of Bees; Curated by Thomas Brauer, 33 Bond Gallery, New York, NY

2007    No New Tale to Tell; 31 Grand Gallery, New York, NY

2007    Working Space, Cuchifritos, New York, NY

2007    This is Not the Future; Vox Populi, Philadelphia, PA

2007    Our Dark Heroes; Secret Project Robot, Brooklyn, NY

2005    MFA Biennial; The Delaware Center for Contemporary Arts, Wilmington, DE

2005    MFA Thesis Exhibition; The Ice Box Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

2005    Outstanding Student Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Exhibition, Grounds for Sculpture, Hamilton, NJ    

2004    Recent Work; Solo Show, The Fahrenheit Gallery, Kansas City, MO

2003    Rapt; Two-Person Show; The Fahrenheit Gallery, Kansas City, MO

2003    BFA Thesis Exhibition, H&R Block Art Space, Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, MO                       

2002    The Stray Show, Kingsbury, Chicago, IL

2003    National Society of Arts and Letters: Small Sculpture Exhibition, Opie Gallery, Leedy-Voulkos Arts Center, Kansas City, MO

Awards and Honors:

2010    (Upcoming) The Women's Studio Workshop, Bookmaking Residency,  Rosendale, NY

2008    The Rema Hort Mann Foundation, Grant Nomination, New York, NY

2007    The Pollock-Krasner Foundation, Inc., Grant Recipient, New York, NY

2007    The Sculpture Space, Artist-in-Residence, Utica, NY

2006    Artist Alliance Inc., Studio Grant Recipient, New York, NY

2006    The Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation, Grant Recipient, Quebec, Canada

2005    Marie Walsh Sharpe Foundation, Studio Grant Recipient, New York, NY

2005    International Sculpture Center, Outstanding Student Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Award

2005    University of Pennsylvania Skowhegan Matching Fellowship, Philadelphia, PA

2004    University of Pennsylvania, Juror's Choice Award, Fox Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

2004    Robert Engman Award, Philadelphia, PA

Lectures and School Visits:

2010    The Kansas City Art Institute, Visiting Artist/Panel Discussion, Kansas City, MO

2009    Peddie School, Visiting Artist, Hightstown, NJ

2008    Stanford University, Visiting Artist, Palo Alto, CA

2006, 2007 Rhode Island School of Art and Design, Visiting Artist, Providence, RI

Publications:

  • Tateishi, Stephen. "Comments on the Retreat into Reality" Sleep of Reason: A Sculptural Performance (Brochure), March 2010
  • Purcell, Janet. "Inspirations of Young and Imaginative Artists on Display at Grounds for Sculpture" The Times, Friday, December 9, 2005
  • Fallon, Roberta. "Schools' Clout" The Philadelphia Weekly, May 18-24, 2005: 45 (Photo and text)
  • "Outstanding Student Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Awards" Sculpture Magazine October 2005: 59 (Photo and text)
  • Ismael, Amelia. "Rachel Frank and James Woodfill at the Fahrenheit Gallery" Review Magazine February 2005: 48 (Photos and review)
  • Bembnister, Theresa; Kaufmann, Gina. "Rachel Frank: Art Capsule Review" The Pitch, Kansas City October 28, 2004 (Photos and text)
  • Trafton, Robin. "Soft Cloth Becomes a Harsh Reality" The Kansas City Star October 9, 2004: 10 (Photos and review)
  • Buszek, Maria. "In Review" Surface Design Journal Spring 2004: 48-49 (Photos and review)
  • Thorson, Alice. "Absurd and Violent" The Kansas City Star June 27, 2003: 27 (Photos and review)

 

My sculptural work uses geometric wood parquetry and cloth animals to explore themes of violence and loss. I am trying to harness the cosmological implications of each of these languages in both public and personal frameworks: How the geometry within the platforms connotes violence; how these objects in space deal with the absence and loss of death. Making reference to domestic objects like coffee tables and vanities, I'm trying to suggest how cosmological frameworks can organically penetrate into private spaces. Within the platforms, transformations appear—hundreds of threads are sewn off the edges, while mirrors cross-section patterned fields, both extending and mutating the geometry into imagined space.  Through these intimate pieces, I am determining how the work can suggest infinite space as a reflection on violence and loss.

Currently, I am working on a sculptural performance. Sleep of Reason uses the allegorical narratives in Francisco Goya’s Los Caprichos and The Disasters of War series to examine the theatrical/performance implications of prisoner torture and abuse depicted in the Abu Ghraib photographs. The performance is set up in a tableau vivant manner: staged still scenes are briefly illuminated with a flash of light cutting through longer periods of darkness. Referencing Goya’s works, the costumed performance suggests the recurrent darkness beneath the rational and enlightened society of today.
   RESIDENCY Women's Studio Workshop (Rosendale, New York) 09/2010 http://www.wsworkshop.org/
   GRANT Franklin Furnace Archive, Inc. (Brooklyn, New York) 07/2010 http://www.franklinfurnace.org/
   GRANT Puffin Foundation (Teaneck, New Jersey) 06/2010 http://www.puffinfoundation.org/
   EXHIBITION Departure/Arrival (La Esquina, Kansas City, MO) 04/02/2010 - 05/22/2010 http://www.charlottestreet.org/urban-culture-project/spaces/la-esquina/
   EXHIBITION Sleep of Reason (Theatrical performance piece) (The Bushwick Starr Space) 03/06/2010 - 03/06/2010 http://www.thebushwickstarr.org/
   EXHIBITION Black Pool (solo show) (The Mariboe Gallery at Peddie School Hightstown, NJ) 09/11/2009 - 09/30/2009