Stream of Consciousness: Frances Stark

I Hate Language (74k)

Untitled [Henry Miller, Tropic of Cancer](145k)

Frances Stark's work consists of elegant and pared-down drawings traced in carbon from found texts. Carbon paper, once a fixture in any office, has now become an object of nostalgia, which she incorporates for its coloristic beauty and interesting texture. The way Stark uses such elements to fuse form and content effectively illustrates her debt to Conceptual Art, where language takes on the role of the abstract shapes or lines in "traditional" painting.

A striking feature of Stark's work is its fusion of literary and visual modes, even down to her choice of materials. Every work in this exhibition originated with printed sources--from Henry Miller to random data printed off her computer screen--most of which have personal meaning for the artist. Another quality central to Stark's work is her playfulness, the sly allusions to generational issues of "sex, drugs, and rock & roll." Untitled (from Emily Dickinson), for instance, uses a selected concordance of the poet's language to demonstrate a persistent interest in bird(s) and bee(s).