Frank Trankina at Packer Schopf

Well, welcome to art season.

Last Friday we had a whirlwind of galleries open, and if you got to see more than a few, you probably saw less than most. Within the next few weeks I encourage you to get out and see what all the hubbub was about. Galleries across the city are hanging amazing shows and they are free to stop in and have a look, so please do. it is a ton of fun and one stop I hope you will make is to Packer Schopf where they are showing a stellar selection of artists. One in particular that caught my eye was Frank Trankina.

Frank's paintings are highly realized, brightly colored works that narrate the interactions between collectibles, not really. Frank takes these objects like vintage toys, doll parts, and other ephemera and paints a still life of them arranged on shelves he constructs himself. Painted so realistically you want to believe the shelf is a part of the piece, not unlike the Virtual Still Lifes of Roger Brown, but these paintings reference Renaissance frescoes much more than Brown though. Because Frank paints from life you get to experience not only the work but the presence of the objects within the world. He isn't just painting stuff, he is studying, teaching and participating in a dialog.