Natalie Frank
Natalie Frank’s Studio
exhibit:
paint, porcelain and pulp: amy bessone, francesca dimattio and natalie frank
ON DISPLAY:
June 27th - August 9th, 2019
GALLERY INFORMATION:
Salon 94 Bowery
HOURS:
TU-SA: 11AM - 6PM
We connected last December over Matrons, as Frank shared with me stories of women who had impacted her art and believed in her work. Her mind, fascinating; her interests, broad: fairy tales, erotica and far-off caves to name a few.... I was thrilled our friend, Alice, had introduced us. In the months that have followed since our initial introduction in Miami, I have become even more impressed.
Through her art, Frank shares stories of women…of life. Her work, unsanitized and bold, is grotesque at times—and always beautiful. Not one to shy away from complexities and seeming contradictions, Frank instead creates art around them, giving us a new way of seeing; a new way of being.
Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to make another visit to Frank’s studio and was again blown away by her talent. As I re-read our interview, I hear her voice and feel inspired once more by her words and her art.
Elizabeth Mathis Cheatham: During Frieze NY, I was captivated by the work you were showing with Salon 94. Can you speak a little about the body of work and the author who inspired it?
Natalie Frank: Thank you. These drawings, gouache and chalk pastel, are based on 8 literary fairy tales of Madame d’Aulnoy, a 17th century French Feminist fairy teller who coined the term “fairy tale.” Jack Zipes, the fairy tale scholar I’ve been working with the past few years on Grimm’s, and the Sorcerer’s Apprentice, suggested I look at these. We’ve collaborated for this book, which will be published by Princeton University Press, with an introduction by Zipes and a preface by me. Mdm. d’Aulnoy’s tales are archly feminist, full of feminist heroines who cross dress, save kingdoms and shapeshift. She is not as well known as someone like Perrault, because she is a woman! This is a gap I’m interested in filling—I was drawn to the Grimm’s because they began as women’s oral tales, and in the tales of the sorcerer, women assumed the main shape shifting roles originally, but were excised after Christianity, as this concept was deemed too threatening.
EMC: Prior to working on Madame d’Aulnoy’s fairy tales, you took on the Grimm Brothers and created an amazing book with Jack Zipes. In the introduction to Tales of the Brothers Grimm, Jack Zipes wrote “It is outrageous to live caged lives while pretending to be free, and Frank opens the doors to our cages so that we can alter our gaze and see anew.” Do you consider this a part of your mission as an artist—to help your viewer see anew and be set free, or is it a byproduct of staying true to your art and creating what you love and see?
NF: I think it’s one and the same, to my mind. I aspire to show life as it is—in all of its sweetness and its horror.
Albertina
(inspired by angela carter’s 1972 book, the war of dreams)
Natalie Frank
EMC: While your work has been incredibly well received, there have been times in your career and schooling that you’ve dealt with censorship... times when others were uncomfortable with your subject matter or misinterpreted its meaning... and times when people have refused to show your art for fear of how it might be received. During such times, did self-doubt and frustration ever creep in? And/or did such responses motivate you to create even more, to push harder against what society tells us is acceptable and worth seeing?
NF: I think the most important thing for me has been to follow where the work takes me. In times like these, I feel empowered to use my voice in even louder ways. My work on the Story of O met resistance initially, which was curious to me. It’s a tale about sex positive feminism, about a woman discovering her desires and affinities—in many ways, a perfect metaphor for how my drawings functions for me, and how I hope they will act on a larger scale. Women’s stories—dark and light—must be represented to give the full picture of what feminism is: equality. Men aren’t the only ones with the privilege of speaking to certain topics such as desire, violence, ownership and power.
EMC: 2018-2019 was a big year for you! With all you had on your plate, you somehow found time to enter the world of dance and to much acclaim. Was it 7 Critics Table Awards?... Please tell us about Grimm Tales Ballet—how it came about, your involvement with it, and what you learned in the process.
NF: The whole project was a fever dream. Veronica Roberts, the fabulous curator at the Blanton, a long time friend, introduced me to Stephen Mills, the head of Ballet Austin when my Grimm show was at the Blanton. I fell in love with Stephen and his talent. One day he asked if I’d be interested in collaborating. Of course, I screamed “yes.” Ballet Austin is such a talented group of dancers and the company, under Stephen and a dynamic woman, Cookie Ruiz, has been given an incredible gift of 3 million dollars by Sarah and Ernest Butler of Austin to make new productions, collaborations with artists. Stephen gave me the freedom to hire a team—amazing artists, with whom I worked on sets, costumes, animations, fabric painting, headpieces and ultimately made around 40 new drawings that were used in addition to my existing Grimm’s for projections on scrims, as sets. It was very well received, a total joy, entry into a new world that I’m fascinated by, and a production that we very much hope to travel.
Albertina
(inspired by angela carter’s 1972 book, the war of dreams)
Natalie Frank
With the Fisherwomen
(inspired by angela carter’s 1972 book, the war of dreams)
Natalie Frank
Woman IX
Natalie Frank
EMC: You will be exhibiting again with Salon 94 this summer in a three-women show which opens June 27th. Can you speak a bit about the work you have created for the exhibit as far as the medium (which is new to you), the creation process, and the inspiration behind the work?
NF: Paper pulp paintings which I made in a residency at Dieu Donne. A place near to my heart. I work with a master papermaker, Amy Jacobs, and use pigmented pulp suspended in water like paint to make paper works that look like paintings. The process is fascinating and fluid and fun. Dieu Donne is a wonderful place that has a residency for artists each year to come and learn about papermaking. I did this a few years back and try to return as often as I can.
EMC: Linda Nochlin, one of my heroes, once wrote, “One might say that Frank has an affinity to the dark side of the fairy tale—for the dark side of life in general.” I find myself quite fascinated by the topics you choose to make art around. What are the common threads that run through all of your work and inspire you to create?
NF: I’ve always wanted to tell stories about women, our bodies, fears, desires, our power and perversions. Women have long been overlooked, underrepresented, denied access. I hope In telling female-centric stories, to change this! I think pushing back against what might be deemed a woman’s sphere—whether in the tales, in other literature I draw from, is a powerful way to change the narrative.