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Frank’s
early work with powerful geometric elements has evolved into more
fluid sculpture with curved, gestural forms and a greater sense
of motion. The development of actively created cast bronze elements
has allowed Frank to emphasize in his sculpture a much freer sense
of this dynamic motion, without losing the essential natural,
organic quality of the work. |
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Frank
begins his process by fabricating the main geometric elements
of a sculpture out of flat metal sheet. He then lays those
elements out in a bed of specially treated sand, like
laying out puzzle pieces to see how they’ll fit. |
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To
simulate the sense of organic forming,
Frank pours molten bronze into the spaces between
the fabricated metal elements to thicknesses of
4” – 6”.
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Then, while the metal is still in its partially
molten state (at temperatures of 1,900 F –
2,000 F), he manipulates it by pulling and
shifting the fabricated elements, to which
the cast bronze has already begun to bond.
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The
rapidly cooling bronze hardens, cracks and sinks in naturalistic
patterns, filling the void left by the elements Frank has shifted
in a simulation of the larger natural forces of erosion and
gravity. This organic forming captures the artist’s desire
to portray in sculpture the forces at work in the natural environment.
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In
the fountain works, moving water replaces the cast bronze as the
apparent natural force which manipulates and shapes the fabricated
sculptural elements.Whereas the bronze-and-metal sculptures represent
a moment captured in time, with elements frozen in the state of
change, the fountain pieces seem to be actively shifting under
the dynamic force of the flowing water. |
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