Frank Gaard: Portraits
From Minnesota Artists Exhibition Program
Artist: Frank Gaard
February 26 - April 11, 1999
Minnesota Artists Gallery
Since 1985, Frank Gaard has painted dozens and dozens of people who have passed through his life. These portraits began as a means of socializing Gaard's studio, of moving artistically from a solitary to a social position. After many years of painting repetitive cartoon-style images from his imagination, Gaard turned to the faces of the real people around him-friends, acquaintances, and strangers who deigned to pose. At first the portraits were a sideline, but over the years they have become a central focus of Gaard's work. Although to some extent they are still about the forbidden (that sense of life mixed with a dread of the future), they reveal a lighter, more veiled aspect of his palette, capturing the sitters in luminous color and form.
Gaard's reputation as a local cultural phenomenon was for two decades linked to his creation and guidance of the underground grafix collective magazine Artpolice and to a body of work that depicted nightmarish, sexually explicit images. He is also well known for his provocative writing and criticism.
Related Materials
Related Events
- Opening Reception: Thursday, February 25, 1999 in the Minnesota Artists Gallery.
- Two artist-led tours: March 18 and April 8, 1999.
