At work

Frank Herrmann, “New Works,” at  Alice F. and Harris K. Weston Art Gallery in the Aronoff Center for the Arts December 1, 2017 through January 28, 2018

Buoyant-15, acrylic & laser cut heavy twill on canvas, 90″ x 72″, 2017

The Cincinnati Arts Association’s Alice F. and Harris K. Weston Art Gallery in the Aronoff Center for the Arts, are presenting New Works, a bold new series of large-scale acrylic paintings and intimate watercolors by renowned Cincinnati painter Frank Herrmann that suggests ancient cultures.

Buoyant-26, watercolor on 300 lb paper, 10″ x 7 1/2″, 2016

Buoyant-10, acrylic on canvas, 58″ x 48″, 2017

In his first solo exhibition at the Weston Art Gallery, Guggenheim Fellow and award-winning painter Frank Herrmann (Cincinnati, OH) presents a new series of large-scale acrylic paintings and watercolor works on paper that explores mysterious bulbous forms suspended in primordial landscapes. Herrmann’s evocative paintings suggest an emerging culture evolving in a recurrent cycle of growth, regeneration, and decay. These multilayered paintings and sensitive watercolors reflect the artist’s aggressive persistence in pushing these expressions toward a final resolution, one that requires time and contemplation, yielding new discoveries upon each viewing.

Also see Cynthia Kukla’s article for Aequi online magazine: “Slayer of Dragons.”

Buoyant-37, watercolor & gouache on 300lb paper, 10″ x 7 1/2″, 2017

Frank Herrmann is Professor Emeritus of Fine Arts at the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning where he taught for more than forty years. He has been the recipient of numerous grants and awards.

Buoyant-14, acrylic & laser cut heavy twill on canvas, 90″ x 72″, 2017

Buoyant-22, watercolor on paper, 10″ x 7 1/2″, 2016

About the paintings in the Weston Art Gallery exhibition.

“All of the paintings exhibited in this show are landscape
oriented, like all of my work over many years of painting.
Even the work that referenced my research of the Asmat
culture was landscape oriented since the creation myths,
rituals, artifacts and motifs of the Asmat were expressions of
their experiences in their jungle terrain and environment.
I realize that the work from the last couple of years has three
core spaces or elements. First, there is a band at the top of
the paintings, which can be read as a shape or sky. Second
below that, there is a space that possibly represents the
land, ground or terrain. Third there is a shape that at times
dangles from the bottom edge of the top band of the painting
and inhabits the space below what could be a horizon. I am
trying push at the possibilities of these three elements in
terms of how they are painted, perceived, how they relate to
each other and how my prolonged pressure as the filter for
influences outside the paintings, this could be through
observation or the viewers varied responses, can be directed
in search of the paintings.” — Frank Herrmann

 

Frank Herrmann

LINKS—

Website:  http://www.frank-herrmann-art.com/
Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/f.herrmann/