October 9–December 12, 2015
Neon Parc
15 Tinning Street, Brunswick
Melbourne
Australia
Hours: Friday–Saturday 11am–5pm
Neon Parc is delighted to announce the opening of its second exhibition space, located in Brunswick, Melbourne, with the presentation of new work by one of Australia’s most celebrated and critically acclaimed contemporary artists, Dale Frank.
Director Geoff Newton says of the venture, “I’m excited about the possibilities of the space and how artists will take on the 2,200-square-foot gallery, situated in an industrial area of Brunswick. The venue will provide artists with an ambitious scale in which to present ideas, in concert with the Neon Parc city gallery on Bourke Street, which was established in 2006.”
To coincide with the much-anticipated opening of the new Neon Parc space, Dale Frank will present a series of large, atmospheric paintings, vivid in colour and bursting with force, featured alongside new sculptural components. Frank’s practice continues to employ a self-reflexive approach to painting in which each work presents itself as an example of an endless series of formal permutations.
These new paintings unmistakably capture an exhilarating abandon and experimentation, an insistence on experiencing the present, along with intensifying an immediacy of emotion. Frank erodes this barrier between the viewer’s present and the painter’s past, between the “now” of looking and the “then” of making. The works in the inaugural Neon Parc exhibition utilize Franks’ characteristic varnish with seemingly disparate materials such as lighter fluid, fur coats, LED lights and chocolate, each a singular approach to the sensation of experiential wonder.
Dale Frank is one of Australia’s foremost contemporary artists and has shown extensively in Australia, Europe, and the U.S. Solo and group exhibitions include Dark Heart, curated by Nick Mitzevich, Art Gallery of South Australia, the 2014 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art; Personal Structures, Palazzo Bembo, 55th Venice Biennale, Venice, 2013; the 1982, 1990, and 2010 Sydney Biennales, Sydney; Contemporary Australia: Optimism, Queensland Art Gallery, Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, 2008; and Ecstasy—20 Years of Painting, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, 2000. A major monograph on Dale Frank’s work, So Far: The Art of Dale Frank 2005–1980, was published in 2007.
Neon Parc Director: Geoff Newton
