Australian artist, Dale Frank toured his first New Zealand solo exhibition in 1997 with his show travelling to enthusiastic audiences in Auckland at Gow Langsford Gallery; New Plymouth at the Govett-Brewster Gallery and Wellington at the City Gallery.  Since then he has shown at Gow Langsford Gallery with both solo exhibitions as well as being included in curated group shows.  In June, viewers will have the opportunity to see his new work at Gow Langsford Gallery - Auckland.

Frank states that for him 'painting is the most human, tactile, bacterial expression' (Dale Frank, 2000).  His continuous exploration of materials and process produces confronting and provocative works.  Frank's materials range to anything from oil and enamel paint, to the detergent and molten aluminium.  Rarely applied with a brush, paintings are instead produced by such methods as spilling materials and then tilting the canvases to move the paint around forming pools of colour.  This method of working sees part of the creative control given over to the materials, and their reaction to the canvas and each other. 

While frequently alluding to hallucinatory states of mind, there are also often scientific referents in Frank's work which evoke both a micro and macro scientific space.  This is a world defined equally by biology at the level of cells and human tissue as by deep space.  At the micro level there is a sense of the physicality of the body as an entity of blood and glands and at the opposite extreme the bright colours and patterns of a supernova. 

Frank is creating new works for this exhibition –new multicoloured resin works relating strongly to his previous New Zealand exhibitions.  To produce these works, he pours across the surface of the canvas.  These are, instead of being laid flat, tipped slightly, to allow the resin to run across the surface, forming pools as it goes.  Later, when hung on the walls, the resin often continues to move and evolve, until after a few months, they reach their finished state.

“I have only just touched on the possibilities for painting. Art is not about painting it is the most human, tactile, bacterial expression - one that is almost embedded in man's soul. Who is to say that painting won't evolve in ways we cannot predict? Methods will change, just as approaches will change. But the actual essence of what painting is will remain.” (Dale Frank, interviewed by Sue Cramer, Dale Frank: Ecstasy (Twenty Years Of Painting), Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, 2000)

Dale Frank will be travelling to New Zealand for the exhibition.