Frankie Wolf

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    • About Frankie Wolf
    • Shadowbox Anomalous
    • Alien Landscapes
    • Images & Reflections
    • Tokens
    • Dark Whimsy
    • Genome
    • Miniatures
    • Artist's Statements
      • AS: Alien Landscapes
      • AS: Beauty in the Strange
      • AS: Bioforms
      • AS: Dark Whimsy
      • AS: Genome
      • AS: Guising
      • AS: Images & Reflections
      • AS: Sapiens Stories
      • AS: Tokens
    • Iblebe

Frankie Wolf

Frankie WolfFrankie WolfFrankie Wolf
  • About Frankie Wolf
  • Shadowbox Anomalous
  • Alien Landscapes
  • Images & Reflections
  • Tokens
  • Dark Whimsy
  • Genome
  • Miniatures
  • Artist's Statements
    • AS: Alien Landscapes
    • AS: Beauty in the Strange
    • AS: Bioforms
    • AS: Dark Whimsy
    • AS: Genome
    • AS: Guising
    • AS: Images & Reflections
    • AS: Sapiens Stories
    • AS: Tokens
  • Iblebe

Sapiens Stories SERIES: ARTIST'S STATEMENTS


Last Flow of the Divine © 2017 Frankie Wolf

Last Flow of the Divine

Statement

Last Flow of the Divine 


This was created for the January 2018 production of the Southern Exposure New Music Series. By invitation only, artists are challenged to create brand new work in response to the evening's scheduled program. Last Flow of the Divine  was directly inspired by If Only After You Then Me (or, Litanies) by Amadeus Regucera.   

 

A note about Southern Exposure:
Award winning Southern Exposure is an event held at the University of South Carolina School of Music. Consisting of four concert events per year, experimental musicians from around the globe are invited to perform and a local visual artist is curated by Sara Winsted to create new work inspired by the scheduled selection of music. The January 2018 event featured musicians Duo Cortona (Rachal Calloway, mezzo-soprano and Ari Streisfeld, violin). This piece was a part of that event and the information below relates to the particular composition used to create it.

  

Artist's Statement:


  

"Focusing on the music rather than lyric, this piece is about a life event that most women must experience - the loss of fertility after a lifetime of possibility. The Great Change of Seasons. Menopause. A subject that is often seen as uncomfortable for polite society. Beyond the discomfort of physical and psychological change there is social change which can be equally difficult. On the canvas, the red, twisted ropes of menses are side by side with the pale veils of subtle shame mixed with the many colors of knowledge gained but possibly ignored because it no longer stems from the "prettiest package". The red ropes strap her behind her walls, both while they flow and after they cease... the white veils of shame form a chaste wimple to hide her aging features. Society sometimes sees this phase of female existence as something humorous or annoying. Women in menopause should be laughed at or avoided because they are “unstable”. Meanwhile the woman is in danger of being slowly shelved as less viable as she enters her Crone Stage. Used up. Expendable. Invisible. 


The woman is here represented by a Venus Figure (the same type as have been found in archaeology sites around the globe), who has lost her purpose. Entombed before death. No longer dewy enough to have value. Her body bears the marks and stripes of an imperfect life: the scars, the stretch marks, the spider and varicose veins, the lumps and bumps and cellulite, the wrinkles and crinkles and dry, crepey skin. In the bottom right corner is a circumpunct representing the last ovum... the last of her potential offspring as it passes across the veil unrealized. And yet, all of her years of growth in wisdom and experience as she enters Crone Stage... must that be lost in a society obsessed with the chaos of youth? Can she not now have new value and worth for the knowledge she acquired over a lifetime?


On the surface this piece is filled with chaos and discord. Does it look unpleasing to the eye? But if the viewer takes the time to pause... and look deeper... and search for the textures and colors... a richer, more eternal, beauty begins to form from the tumult. Shapes and lines and color dances that won't be observed with a cursory glance. Deeper mysteries and more interesting secrets.

 

**********************************************************************************


Composer's Statement:  
"The text for If only after you then me is compiled from works by: William S. Burroughs, Jean Genet, George Bataille, Antonin Artaud. My interest in the literature of Burroughs, Genet, and Artaud (leading me to the philosophy of “base materialism” propagated by Georges Bataille) stems from a fascination and love for transgressive thought, critiques of accepted norms, and expressive forms of immediacy and contact. I place considerable import on first reactions and initial experiences, through which further exploration can take place. The text for Litanies, as the title implies, is merely a list, collated from different pieces of literature. What begin as symptoms of either drug use or dope sickness become a list of stream-of-consciousness words beginning with the letter “e,” perhaps in the mind of the addict who is swiftly moving towards transcendence/oblivion." —Amadeus Regucera 


 

If Only After You Then Me (or, Litanies)

Amadeus Regucera


every graphic thought narcoleptic fantasy//in my memory you're a rare creature jagged

apparition swollen body desperate predator//If only after you then me//I wake I breathe I wait

I want I need I watch I sleep I dream I kill I'm born I die I eat I watch I touch I fuck I feel I feel I

need I want I feel I need I kill I kill I fuck I want (cut, my mouth my tongue my lips my face my

neck my skin your) Memory, like a deep wound carved into my mind; I remember, you, like a

scar. Running my hand over the dead flesh. our lives, an abattoir. meaningful. lying there,

awake. sitting.//here//I can see you sleep eyes turned inward I can't join you so I watch//so

close you are too far (sweetly towards a dream I feel your eyes on me you are too far)//if you

don't hear from me send help//don't promise//don't choke//your memory like a scar//a

destructive love airtight co-temporary periodic chaos//a memory, a scar, your memory, a

scar//your mouth and eyes your skin your skin your flesh wet flesh a rare creature a jagged

apparition swollen body desperate predator gorgeous teen flesh a black cigarette blood red

razor blades mouth eyes eyes face eyes face lips flesh a rare creature gorgeous teen flesh

every fiction every collision a composite disaster love is a fashionable emotion eyes mouth

lips eyes face eyes your mouth our lips your mouth our eyes your face my hand your eyes my

mouth your neck our skin your hair our lips your sweat my mouth your ear our skin your

hands my mouth your neck your mouth your skin your sweat your room your city your city

your your body is our bodies bodies are we are bro ken we we bro ken we are we we are help

please every graphic thought don't help send don't hear from me send help if only don't don't

don't CUT CUT CUT CUT CUT CUT CUT you're too far so tell me your words one text message

at a time me please your body is bodies are we are me please//[litany]//screaming head,

clenched teeth, white knuckles, sweated brow, bloodshot eyes, exhausted and empty,

effeminate, endlessly eradicated, Elysium, emasculate, emphallic, embolism, encephalitis,

eviscerate, extirpate, entropy, ephedrine, enuresis, excrescence encyst, eternal return

Specifics

Last Flow of the Divine


Series: Shadowbox Anomalous: Sapiens Stories

Year: 2017


Dimensions: 

12" x 12" x 1-13/16"

30 x 30 x 5 cm


Media: Mixed

Surface: Canvas, Gallery Wrapped


Exhibitions: 

2018: Southern Exposure New Music Series, University of South Carolina School of Music, Sponsored by Sara Winsted


2022: Southern Exposure Retrospective "Artist Exposure", W. W. Hootie Johnson Performance Hall, Darla Moore School of Business, Columbia, SC


Awards:  ---


Listen here: Regucera - If Only After You Then Me

Shelved

Statement

Shelved was created as part of  an artists' roundabout similar to the childhood "whisper game". Organized by Abstract Alexandra, a number of artists, starting with Alexandra, formed a virtual line. Each artist then viewed the work of the artist in front of them as it was completed and talked to that artist about their inspirations and meaning in creating their piece. Using that information for inspiration, the new artist created a piece that they then shared with the next artist in line. I was the last in line and created my work based on the poem and video created by Ed Madden. That work is called Tomatoes. 


After all of the work was completed, a Page was created to showcase each artist's work in sequential order, along with any explanations or statements that they wish to share.


See all of that art and a copy of Ed Madden's video on the Whisper to a Shout Page in the sidebar link. The full text of the poem is at the end of this post.


The subject of my work here is  care and respect for our Elders.    


Though this is a road we all must travel, barring an earlier tragedy, for many in society it is easy to forget this section of our community. Especially when we are still young and hardy and brimming with the passions of our own internal worlds.    


But as the years pass by, as older family members cross the veil, as friends move away and lose touch, as the rules of a dynamic society changes, as technology advances, as our bodies begin to weaken and fail... we are all in danger of becoming increasingly invisible. Race, gender, orientation... we all must face this.    


No matter where we start out or how popular we are... there is a chance that we can outlive or lose all of the members of our original support circle, and become dependent on strangers to care about what happens to us. And there is no guarantee that someone will step into that role.


Tomatoes (by Ed Madden)


I should have spoken to my father

as we worked together, bending


over the rows, staking the tomatoes

fallen across the garden. Instead,


we planted the stakes, stretched the grids

of wire and shaped the cages, tenderly


lifted the heavy branches, threaded them 

through the empty space.



Learn More

Shelved  


Series: None   

Year: 2019

   

Dimensions:  

30" x 20" x 1-13/16"   

76 x 50 x 5 cm  


Media: Mixed   

Surface: Canvas, Gallery Wrapped      


Exhibitions:    

2019: Whisper to a Shout     


Awards:  ---

Visit 'Whisper to a Shout'

Shelved WIP Gallery From the November 2020 Artist's Talk

(1) Original Thumbnail Image 

Shelved

2019


    Virtual Artist's Talk for 'Shelved' (November 2020).

    I've collected the original posts in order here. Visit the page linked above to see the additional videos and related materials.


    Post One: 


    Good morning - I'm Frankie Wolf and this is the beginning of my week long artist's talk about the piece I created for this project. If you have not done so yet, I strongly encourage you to scroll back on this page and watch Ed Madden's submission - a poem and video called 'Tomatoes'. My work is based on what he shared with me, especially the plethora of symbolism I found in his video. 


    Before I get started, I would like to thank Ed for creating something that I found inspirationally powerful. I would also like to thank Abstract Alexandra for inviting me to participate, along with all of my fellow artists who created the chain before me. And I thank you in advance for spending the week with me to learn about this work. 


    Throughout this week, I hope to share a variety of things with you, including work in progress images, various YouTube videos that reflect the subject I am exploring in this piece and information about where you can follow me or learn what I have done in the past. 


    I look forward to answering any questions you may have as we go. 


    The work I created is called 'Shelved' and explores a social subject that I think is often easily overlooked in this complicated world: caring for our elders. Though this is a road we all must travel, barring an earlier tragedy, for most of society it is easy to forget this section of our community. Especially when we are still young and hardy and brimming with the passions of our own internal worlds. 


    But as the years pass by, as older family members cross the veil, as friends move away and lose touch, as the rules of a dynamic society changes, as technology advances, as our bodies begin to weaken and fail... we are all in danger of becoming increasingly invisible. Race, gender, orientation... we all must face this. 


    No matter where we start out or how popular we are... there is a chance that we can outlive or lose all of the members of our original support circle, and become dependent on strangers to care about what happens to us. And there is no guarantee that someone will step into that role. 


    An example I often mention is the case of Yvette Vickers. You may or may not recognize that name, but she was an actor that is often best remembered as the love interest (Honey Parker) in the classic creature feature 'Attack of the 50 Foot Woman'. Though she was not an A-List actor, the movie is well known enough that most people remember it. 


    Despite having more "fame" than most of us in this world, she died a lonely death. But no one can say more than that it happened sometime between 2010 and April of 2011. This is because 2010 was the last time anyone can say that they saw her. And her mummified body was found in 2011. Whenever, however she died alone in her house... no one noticed for as long as a year. 


    So nothing... nothing... guarantees that someone will be there for us in the end, when we may cross the veil alone and afraid. And how many years of loneliness and lack of stimulation before even that? 


    Are you young today? Middle aged? Time goes so fast. Will you be alone for years at the end of your time? 


    This, along with an even heavier topic - elder abuse - is the subject of the art I am sharing with you this week. I hope you will stay around to absorb and think about what I am presenting. 


    Thank you for your time.


    Post Two:


    The way this project was designed, when each artist completed their work, they set up a meeting to share the work with the follow-up artist. While Ed Madden was sharing his poem and video with me, thoughts and images began to tumble around in my head. As soon as our meeting completed, I scribbled out this thumbnail sketch. As it turns out, the final work didn't drift very far at all from the original concept. (see 'Thumbnail' image above)


    Post Three:


    A work in progress (WIP) photo. Creating the rows outside of the shadowbox in the canvas. (see 'Rows in the Barren Field' image above)


    Post Four:


    Something that I picked up from Ed's video was that there were a couple of scarecrows in the garden. I took that idea and made it a symbol in my own work, representing the elderly being "greyed out" - stiff, unmoving, unacknowledged over time. The elder that I painted here is wearing vibrant, youthful colors (inspired by the elders in the documentaries 'Advanced Style" and 'Iris'). She is boldly creative, styling her hair more for artistic effect than standard trends. She wears bright statement jewelry - polished stones that click pleasantly as she moves, announcing her presence when she enters a space. Her shawl is generous and warm, ready to embrace another - to offer comfort as requested. Because she still feels all of these things. 


    Many times I tell younger folk that you don't necessarily change who you are on the inside. You still feel like yourself... you can have the same interests, passions and attractions at 53 as you did at 23. You change on the outside, but your internal world can still be quite vigorous. In fact, you can "forget" that you aren't still young at times. 


    But as you can see, her legs and edges of her skirt have started to reflect the forced "greying out" she is experiencing from the surrounding community. It is creeping up, making her over time into the stiff, unremembered, unwanted scarecrows shelved near her. She is becoming silent. Still. Invisible. Her legs are now hard, wooden, useless things. If the process is unchecked, she will eventually exist only vaguely in a field outside of the hustle and bustle of life. Her purpose uncertain. She is boxed in for no other reason than that she outlived the support system of her youth. 


    This elder is still very active mentally. She holds in her arms another symbol I took from Ed's video - tomatoes - that represent here the Gifts of Age. Whereas the Gifts of Youth include (among other things) something that fades - dewiness and fertility - the Gifts of Age are cumulative, more enduring and also valuable. They include wisdom, storytelling, historical archives, experience, creativity, advice and support. She cradles them gently, carefully, tenderly. Like infants. They are in fact, her offspring birthed from the essence of passing years. She is only waiting for other minds to accept her offering. 


    I wanted to try to make the elder a bit racially ambiguous because I think that it is important for every viewer to be able to see themselves here. To know that they will, in some manner, walk this same road. Ed's poem had references to a youth not talking to his father while there was still time. And the recognition of such possible regrets. This is a narrative that happens every day. Is happening right now, in fact. In this moment, more Gifts of Age are being lost. Forever. (see 'Elder Woman' and 'Elder Woman Face' images above)


    Post Five:


    Some more early WIP images. Building the "crop rows" on the canvas. (see 'Crop Rows 1-3' images above)


    Post Six:


    The left side of 'Shelved' has the kind of shadowbox I often include in my work recently (which is why this piece falls under the overall umbrella of the Shadowbox Anomalous series). In this one I've included the scarecrow reflections that I picked up from Ed's video. 


    They represent those elders who are forgotten by their families and the rest of society. Perhaps they became a burden as their minds and bodies weakened or perhaps they outlived everyone they knew and depended on. 


    Perhaps they live alone - lucky if they are financially stable, because many are not. Perhaps they were warehoused somewhere at some point, by their will or no. Shelved away, which is the origin of the title. Some places are nicer than others, obviously, and if someone doesn't have the financial means they could end up in a great deal of distress for their final days. 


    In this piece I used various shades of grey to, again, reflect that everyone walks this road and anyone can wind up in terrible circumstances without someone around who cares what happens to them, no matter where they start out in life. 


    Grey also reflects the concept of how easy it is to be greyed out. Forgotten. Invisible to the rest of society. I painted patterned cloth to hint at the vibrancy of their past... perhaps they were talented in the arts, perhaps they sacrificed for their county, perhaps they taught generations of children, perhaps they were filled with laughter that made everyone's day better, perhaps they invented something that changed the world, perhaps they gave up everything else to care for their families, perhaps they took care of someone you knew when they were in the hospital... 


    We all have stories, fine stories, interesting stories and everyday those stories are lost to time.


    The patterns are grey now too. 


    The scarecrows are stiff and wooden, bound by their increasing frailties as age progresses. Their Gifts of Age dropped to their feet, unharvested, left to rot. They are surrounded by the grey rows of a barren field, which also visually become the bars of a restricted life. But are those fields actually barren, or just neglected? (see 'Scarecrows on a Shelf' image above) 


    Post Seven:


    WIP images for 'Shelved": painting the crop rows. (see 'Painting Crop Rows 1-4' images above)


    Post Eight:


    As I discussed earlier, I utilized the tomatoes inspired by Ed's video in this piece to symbolize the Gifts of Age: experience, wisdom, creativity, historical archives and so forth. 


    Whereas the figure on the right of the canvas is still cradling her Gifts... offering them to any with the insight to appreciate them, those on this side have already been greyed out. They are only wooden scarecrows now unable to protect their Gifts. The tomatoes drop to the ground, unharvested... starting to rot and be lost forever. 


    If you look closely, you may be able to see the spots on some tomatoes where the rot is taking hold. 


    A tragedy of lost knowledge. (see 'Tomatoes' images 1-4 above) 


    Post Nine:


    Here are some of the tomatoes I made for 'Shelved' that represent lost Gifts of Age... the ones that are starting to show rot. I mixed these in with tomatoes that were still untouched on the canvas so that the viewer would have to look carefully to find them. (see 'Rotting Tomatoes' image above)


    Post Ten:


    WIP images of the Elder Scarecrows. (see 'Elder Scarecrows' images 1-4 above)


    Post Eleven:


    The faces of the elders in 'Shelved' are cracked and worn as in life. I wanted to crack the paint to represent them as the wooden scarecrows they've become in a society focused on youth... but also to reflect the natural aging process. 


    With new resources, our society has become obsessed with holding on to impossible youth. There is no longer the acceptance of aging without shame... increasingly people are expected to physically compete with individuals decades younger. That's a lot of extra pressure for such an impossible task. 


    There's a lot of money to be made from "youth maintenance". Companies in this field have financial motivation to make you feel ugly and unacceptable. Pushing "youth" gets people grinding on an unending treadmill to nowhere, throwing money down a bottomless pit. So advertisements, films, pop culture and the elite celebrities will all work to create the narrative that if you just invest in certain things and spend all your money... you can look young until you die. 


    All this leads to is another layer of stress and unhappiness when obviously this isn't true. Whether some sort of gene therapy will be discovered in the future... it isn't here yet. And may never be. Or may never be affordable for the average person. 


    Here's something true right now. All those perfect faces and bodies you see all over mainstream and social media are "tricks of the trade" most of the time. I was a stage techie in my youth. I've seen celebrities up close both with and without their masks. You know what? In most cases they are just like the rest of us. 


    I've seen models with blemishes, enlarged pores and uneven skin, dancers with torn up legs and stomach fat, actors with scars, dry skin, circles under their eyes and cellulite. 


    Angles and lighting and makeup and girdles and thick hose and so on... those are the things that trick you into thinking they look so much better than you. 


    And they are groomed for entertainment purposes... so a great deal of money goes into hair extensions, veneers, facial peels, laser treatment, personal trainers, personal chefs and so forth. Things that are hard for average folk to afford. 


    But it's all just another grand illusion. (see 'Cracked' images 1-4 above)


    Post Twelve:


    WIP images of the miniature tomatoes. (see 'Making Tomatoes' images 1-2 above)


    Post Thirteen:


    Some say it's odd, but I like to finish the backs of my canvases with a covering and trim. With this one, I also included Ed's poem which is the seed from which this grew. (see 'Covered Back' images 1-2 above)


    Post Fourteen:


    The shadowbox portion of this work can be perceived as a shelf in the upright orientation - such as a cellar shelf stacked with jars of canned tomatoes. But if the viewer visually reorients the canvas to a flat position, it can be viewed as a grave in an empty field. In the upright position, the rows of the field can duplicate the bars of confinement. 


    Upright, the scarecrows are in their empty field, warehoused somewhere and waiting for the end. Horizontal, their mass grave. 


    The figure on the right has a white box etched around her. This is an echo of the grave from the left. Her hands are folded under her gifts. Her eyes closed. Is she resting? Relaxed? Or has she already crossed the veil unnoticed by society, her arms folded in the traditional manner? 


    Though with enough money there are places where the elderly can find comfort, care and safety for their last years, there are also places that are the opposite of the ideal. Places where those who struggle to care for themselves are warehoused - stored - in some cases neglected or abused. Left to die.  


    Without someone to care what happens to them, to check on their welfare and fight for their safety and comfort, it can be a horrible end. Are you really sure you will have someone to check on you in your end days? (see 'Shadowbox' images 1-2 above)


    Post Fifteen:


    WIP of the Elder. (see 'the Elder' images 1-4 above)


    Post Sixteen:


    This is a photo of the moment when Ed Madden met with me to share and explain his work. I want to once again thank Ed for working with me to give me such a good foundation from which to launch my own creation. (see 'Ed Madden' image above)


    Post Seventeen:


    Thank you to everyone who spent the last seven days exploring the inspiration and subject of my mixed media piece, 'Shelved', with me. Also, many thanks to Ed Madden for his poem and video, and all of the artists who submitted work for this art chain.  


    This is the final piece in the group project 'Whisper to a Shout: Social Issues'. 


    I believe that Abstract Alexandra intends to keep the project going with a brand new roster of artists based on the Pandemic theme, so if you'd like to see more, stay tuned to this Page. 


    As for myself, I am moving forward to other things and you can find me online in the various links I included in the post below working on those mentioned projects and more. 


    Goodnight everyone. And take care. (see 'Final Elder' image above)


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