Potty Art No.1/ Visual Darwinism

Awkward Moment no.1


Awkward Moment no.1, "Intimate Moments with Tom and Frank", Cold Creation Gallery, Barcelona, Spain, 2002


Awkward Moment #1 is the first work in a series by the artists Frank Plant and Thomas Charveriat. The series deals interactively with the issue of moments that are normally not meant for sharing. The artists put the viewer in the role of intruder in hopes of generating the feeling of invasiveness that normally accompanies such delicate moments. Awkward Moment #1 is a composition of steel and photography showing a man seated on a toilet reading a newspaper.
When the viewer pulls the handle attached to the left side of the steel structure, the newspaper lowers and the upper part of the scowling face of the man is exposed and shouts angrily: "Do you mind?!?!". This is the moment that almost everyone has experienced, the moment that an individual walks in on someone unexpectedly and the immediate sense of surprise, shame and vulnerability created from it. The dynamic of the piece is to force the spectator to back away from the work with a sense of invasive shame and guilt.

Work created in collaboration with Thomas Charveriat
Sound Design by Denis Menard
Voice by Richard Felix


R&D in the studio

Okay That's the official version, now a bit more about working with humor in art in general. I like humor and I also believe that it is a very strong tool with which to communicate to people. If you can get them to laugh I think you are going a long way in opening the door for deeper communication. Nobody's going to argue that we live in a visually saturated world and anybody that's involved in the struggle of creating provacative and engaging images is going to tell you that making a lasting impression on today's viewer is extremely challenging.

This Factoid is from

Gullible.Info

which is a pretty cool site, here's the link

• Every minute, the human brain processes about 17GB of visual input, 5GB of audio input 20MB of tactile input, 350kB of olfactory input, and 100 kB of gustatory input.

Meaning there is a hell of alot competition for our attention, especially if you put yourself in an environment where you are specifically seeking visual stimulation, i.e. Museums, Galleries, etc.... Now I won't go into the deteriorating state of western man's attention span or his capacity for concentration but needless to say it's gone downhill with the advent of the remote control (among other things).

preliminary pulley system in the studio


In my struggle with what could be called "Visual Darwinism" (remember you heard it here first), I find that humor as well as irony are great tools for creating a more lasting experience in today's saturated and jaded viewer. Also the advent of post-modernism unleashed a tsunami of hyper subjective hog wash on the poor unsuspecting viewer which I believe led to a general marginalization of the spectator. Don't get me wrong, I believe that post-modernism marshalled in some well needed changes, I also don't feel that it's the artist's responsibility to cater to current trends and dumb down content to reach a wider audience if that's not there objective. Before I get to far down the dark alleys of some discourse on modern art just let me say that I think a bit of humor can help (as can many things well applied I suppose) an image or idea stick a bit more in the mind of the viewer.


Mounting the Fotos which had adhesive on the back


Having said that do I think that everyone should rush forth and add a dash of sophmoric humor to their work? Most certainly not, but if the predilection is there it is well worth the research. The Awkward Moment pieces for me use humor as an entrance to the edgier feelings of intrusiveness, vulnerability and SHAME! Yes Shame on you!

Awkward Moment no.1 video

The final pully structure

Awkward Moment no.1, "Intimate Moments with Tom and Frank", Cold Creation Gallery, Barcelona, Spain, 2002

Is Nothing Sacred? The Chilies/Liebeskind and Favelas

"The Chilies", Steel bar and plate, 98x97cm, 2006 (First three images), no not a Red Hot Chilly Peppers cover band but what started off as a simple purchase at the local Asian food importers and put through the filter of my brain. I was attracted to this image because as you'll see in a lot of my work I like to work with compositions that a certain amount of repetition as well as chaos, I think the technical word for it is entropy, or structured chaos.


I was first attracted to these images from the then experimental architect Daniel Liebeskind who did a series of drawings called "Macromegas" that were published in a poncey art journal I once saw. Although there is not a lot of repetition in these works I was very interested in their dynamism and volatility.



This amount of visual information, detail and a splash of chaos is sometimes what I look for in subjects that I like to portray, the difference is that I normally like to find the information in nature whether it be or man made environments as you see in the favela series that I do or in the Fingerprint series etc....




The Chillies in their new home in Amsterdam













Above you have a detail of one of Liebeskind's "Macromegas" this one titled " Vertical Horizons", I changed the orientation for presentation's sake. Below you have a drawing I did of a favela from a detail of a photo I tracked down on the Internet. and the following the original material.







Well when I see images of favelas, shantie towns, townships and or certain urban environments, I start to get a bit excited. The magnitude of some of them, whether creeping up mountainsides or stretched out in valleys, i find truly amazing. Not only from just the sheer quantity visual information available but obviously what it represents as well. Humankind as an organism, in this case with very little resources, sprawling out to accomadate itself in any way possible and using every material at hand to create some sort of lodging or shelter for themselves. So far I have or have had created three different versions of the favela drawing I've made .

In the studio, Favela III, Mixed Media, 100x80, 2006

The first one started but not the first one finished, is Favela no.3, Mixed Media on MDF support, 126.5x76.5cm, 2006. is made completely out of recycled material in a collage/relief form. I think the manner that it's created is appropriate to the subject matter and I'm quite happy with the result.
Below you have three details of the same work...




Favela III, Mixed Media, 100x80, 2006 (Details)


Favela II, Engraved Stainless Steel, 100x80, 2006

The first and second were realized in Shanghai, China with the help of Thomas Charveriat of Island Six Arts Center and exhibited in the show "Invisible Layers, Electric Cities" Curated by Margherita Salmosa and Allard van Hoorn. The one in the picture with one of my loyal chinese followers in front of it is creatively titled "Favelas II" is an engraved plate of stainless steel which is then hand painted by highly skilled chinese craftsmen. Island Six is a very interesting new initiative which I'll cover more of later

Island6 Arts Center

Island 6 Arts Center, brainchild of one Thomas Charveriat, international Playboy and artistic mover and shaker.....

Sheilas Nos. 1 and 2 (Don't report me read the text first!)

Sheila no.2 (Kneeling), Steel, 100cm x 126cm, 2005


While working on “WH(Y)” I came into contact with Sheila. Sheila is an inflatable sex doll. In case your curious she came with the name and her chosen line of work is law enforcement, she packs a gun. I bought Sheila because I couldn’t really do a piece on the male state without involving sex but I didn’t want to incorporate graphically intimate images. Sheila was the solution, she represents the act of sex as one of desperation. Flesh and blood substituted by plastic and air, reality by fantasy. In “WH(Y)” she figures no fewer than six times and she is a patient and flexible model. In the process of having her around the studio the reactions, male and female, that people had to her were quite curious and strong. People reacted with intrigue and curiosity to what could be considered a symbol of our darker, more instinctual and desperate side. Hence Sheila no.1 (reclining) 192cm x 42cm and Sheila no.2 (Kneeling), 100cm x 126cm. Pieces that at once are provocative in the male objectification and idealization of the female form and miserably sad as measures of the levels of deprivation that human desire can bring.


Sheila no.1 (reclining), Steel, 192cm x 42cm, 2005

WH(Y)?

WH(Y)?, Painted Steel, 218cm x 125cm, 2006

“WH(Y)” is a sardonic reflection on the male condition, the name is taken from the chromosome that determines male sexuality shortly after conception. The piece’s focus is on certain male tendencies such as violence, imperialism, our love of motor vehicles, vagrancy, evangelism, sex with inflatable inanimate objects, voyeurism, etc…. it’s a humorous take on some of our less attractive habits. The composition consists of about forty small figures, average size 40cm, that are mostly portraits of people that have visited the studio recently and graciously posed in any number of compromising positions. The remainder of the shots I took outside of the studio. The figures are made out of welded steel bar and plate steel cut accordingly and the whole piece measures 218cm x 125cm. I improvised a lot with the composition and feel I came up with a fairly dynamic solution. I’m very content with the orientation towards detail and look forward to investigating it more in the future.

Peter Brueghel, The Triumph of Death, 1562

I would be remiss in not citing at least two influences that I had in working with this type of composition. Besides having a natural predilection for the busy and dynamic, I do find alot of inspiration in the works of Peter Brueghel and Hieronymous Bosch. Both of their attention to detail and imagination I find staggering. Bosch was as and continues to be as provacative as Dali but four hundred years earlier.


Hieronymous Bosch, Death and the Miser, c.1490

Both of these fellas were out there, just drumming out the most macabre stuff from the deepest recesses of their imaginations. I find it absolutely awe-inspiring.


My Good Friend Ari was an exuberant model, here he is in action with Sheila.


And here is the reproduction in steel that forms a part of the piece.



Another detail of WH(Y)?

The Lab MG10

The Lab MG10 is where it all happens, or the vast majority of it anyway there are mini-labs for other specific purposes on a couple sites in other parts of the city. The Lab MG10 though is found on an ordinary street near an ordinary placa, and is and has been home to many social, political and cultural deviants, misfits and creators for the past seven years. The Lab MG10 is on the map in good ways and bad. The good are that it has been shelter and haven for my many artistic projects as well as place of encounter for many people that pass through Barcelona. A place where locals and foreigners alike come to enjoy an open coziness and perhaps lift a glass of wine. The majority of the contents on the web pages www.frankplant.com and www.m5project.com that I have been involved with were created at least in part here. Two floors and a huuuuuge terrace serve as ample space for all my endeavors.
The bad part is we are also on the map of the local government and they are aching to build a new road through the Lab MG10. We hope that they spend their money elsewhere for a good many years to come and that the community here can continue to flourish. First Photo is the street entrance

The Studio, Taller... whatever you wanna call it.

The studio, Taller whatever you wanna call it converted into it's freakish alter ego... My restaurant.

Franksgiving 2006

Franksgiving 2007

The Artist, hard at work or hardly working?

Artist or self promoting PR ding dong, the trials and tribulations of the artist today

Ok part blog entry and part rant, we'll start with the blog entry part. I have a new somewhat comprehensive catalogue that gives a good idea of the work that I've been doing since around 1998. It is creatively titled, Frank Plant, Selected Works 1998-2005, and goes through all of the what more or less could be called creative periods or spells that I've passed through since then. First basic drawings in steel, more complex ones, Interactivity etc.... I have to say I feel like a new father except that this child had a gestation period of 12 months instead of nine.
Start rant. Now publicity is a tricky subject for the modern artist, we love it and can't get enough of it for obvious reasons. Without publicity, and this comes in many forms whether it be openings, newspaper/magazine articles, catalogues, interviews, word of mouth and or web site/blog type thingys, we are relegated to a very small public which usually includes a couple friends, a neighbor or two, spouse/ boyfriend/ girlfriend type person and a blind aunt that has always been supportive. This unfortunately, if you ever want to give up the day job, is not good enough, so the challenge is to get the word out without that part of the endeavor taking over your life.



The cover of the new catalogue, for those of you in the know with metal work you'll realize that this is a grinding disc which you put on a grinder to clean metal after it's been welded. It is a fundamental part of my everyday existence in the studio. For those of you not in the know you can now escape from the questions in your head of "Why does he have a CD/DVD on the cover of his catalogue?", "What on earth do disc brakes have to do with sculpture?". Mystery solved, it's a grinding disc.




Various pages of the new catalogue








Uber Israeli design goddess Ifat Zvirin, without whose generosity and patience this book would not exist.








As of maybe 6 or 7 years ago I began to realize the increasing amount of time that organization and production work were taking out of my everyday schedule. Emails and info to galleries, festivals, the occasional blind aunt, interested buyers, and basically anybody that would listen. Also designing things, some people might think that designers and artists are one in the same or at least reasonably similar, I tend to disagree as it seems that I would have a difficult time designing my way out of a wet paper bag. Designing publicity and or a web page for example on anything other than a very basic level for me would probably be a mistake as people tend to take this image of you, rightly or wrongly, as a representation/reflection of your level of professionalism or quality. So you gotta be a bit careful.
Also once you have something attractive how do you get it out there? Well I'll be the first to admit that artists today have it ten million times easier than say even 15 years ago because of the advent of the internet. I hung my web page and eventually it got picked up by internet bots that do us the service of organizing the web a bit for us. the following are a couple examples.

DMOZ Open Directory Project Metals Sculptors page

Google's Arts Directory Metals Sculptors page

The list goes on especially if you like to spend hours in front of the computer. Will you ever sell something through these pages? I'm sure it's happened, I on the other hand I have not but I do get alot of people to my sight through them.


I also have a free service called Statcounter that is pretty efficient at keeping me up to date on who is visiting my site and when, what you do with the info is up to you. I'm pretty much limited to marvelling at the fact that someone from Fiji viewed my site yesterday at 5:48 PM. It's still a pretty cool site.

Stat Counter, for all you number crunchers fascinated by stats

My favorite form of press has to be magazine spreads though, guaranteed circulation, you can put in weblinks and contact info and people can view it at there leisure.




Trendy Culture mags will do if your not ready for Artforum or if they're not interested. Usually comes with a small interview and some photos.
















Design Mags are also great because alot of designers and architects, at least in my mind, use them as source material.

















Also I hate to say it but normally the glossier the better, I think there must be a mathematical equation somewhere that explains the relationship between gloss in magazines and the tax bracket of their readership.


Now maybe one day you arrive at the wonderful and priviledged stage of having some agent or gallerist to take care of all these woeful duties for you but until that day it's good to get as used to as possible the ever increasing role that getting the message out will play in the life of the emerging artist. Whether that means getting your head around photoshop and freehand or just becoming the consummate press whore the reality is that (and this is nothing new) increasingly the art world is becoming commercialized and to compete in the absence of subsidies or blinding success the media can be very helpful.

Time Out Barcelona, May 2008

May 2008

November 2009 issue of Mango Magazine published in the Phillipines

The Last Supper or Liberty's Consumption

Last Supper


The idea of icons is one that particularly interests me. For a long time I wanted to work with the Statue of Liberty because it's such a provacative image, meaning there is for a lot of people a very large gap in what it supposedly represents and and the evolving nature of America in the eyes of the world.
“The Last Supper” is a contemporary take on the age old Christian iconic image of the last supper of Jesus-Christ involving the controversial icon of the Statue of Liberty. This version though takes more of it’s inspiration from Buñuel’s 1961 film “Viridiana”. The dinner in this case joins an unlikely cast of characters invited primarily for their roles in the erosion of civil liberties, whether it be through outright political or military demagoguery, or cultural, or economic imperialism. The five people involved in the project will be filmed as the twelve guests and shown gorging on what is already the body in repose of Miss Liberty. This installation is a reflection of the precarious state of post-September 11 civil liberties and how world wide events have created an environment where increasingly conservative governments place more restrictions on their civilian populations.










To See A delightful Video of the project made by Fabrice Amzel go to this Link:

The Last Supper, 23 December 2003 AD, Galeria La Santa

Or...



Work created in collaboration with Thomas Charveriat
Sound Design by Denis Menard
Costume Design by Eric Obino
Video Realization and Edition by Fabrice Amzel