MOCA Fort Collins

MOCA Fort Collins, curator notes by Erika France for the exhibition Mirror of the Mind: the psychology of contemporary portraiture, December 11, 2001 - January 26, 2002.

In Frank Born's paintings, the placement of the figure in space is a pivotal part of his message to the viewer. He states, "I am trying for a territory that is a combination of how things look to me in real life and how they look in my dreams. A psychological territory." For the most part, the monolithic single figures and groups of figures exist amongst a minimal, monochromatic haze. The persons depicted are descriptive, and their inward situation is emphasized over their environment.

Frank Born borrows the image of his sitter from several different sources. The man present in the paintings possesses features of Born, his father, and an invented character. Born begins each painting with no pre-conceived image in order to allow the subject to emerge from his unconscious self. Sometimes the portraits allude to his family, but each painting should universally relate to any viewer. Each figure is positioned in a horizontal or vertical manner to emphasize relationships; the relationships between family members, emotions, life and death, and the human condition. The extent of these relationships appears ambiguous, providing for a personal interpretation based on the viewer's psychology.

Born states about his portraits, " They don't flatter. They try to be intimate. To allow the viewer to relax his guard, to allow something to go on between us that is honest and gets captured."

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