Biography page for John Frame

Artist: John Frame

Birth: 1950, Colton, California

Education: San Diego State University (B.A. in Literature, 1975). Claremont Graduate School (M.F.A., 1980)

Residence: Los Angeles

Major Awards: National Endowment for the Arts, 1984 and 1986; Los Angeles County Museum of Art Young Talent Purchase Award, 1985; J. Paul Getty Museum Individual Artist's Fellowship, 1995.

Gallery Affiliations: Began exhibiting in Los Angeles in 1982 at the Janus Gallery; has remained with that gallery through its changes to the Jan Turner Gallery and presently the Kohn Turner Gallery.

Bibliography:

Harrison, Allen. John Frame/Larry Hurst. Pasadena City College Art Gallery, 1997.
from statement by John Frame:

"One of the central ironies of the creative process for me lies in the split between intellect and intuition. ...My belief is that good works of art cannot be forced into existence by intellectual means, but must, in fact, be coaxed into being while the artist if fully encompassed intuitively. For me, the irony here is that artists are responsible, if you will, for understanding a great deal about what it is they have chosen to do. If, as is the case with history, they do not want to repeat what has already been done, they need to know something of both Modern and Traditional art history. If they want to have great expressive range, they must learn to control their means of expression (i.e. their craft -- however heretical that may seem by today's standards). And, if they want their work to have some lasting value, they must be willing to invest each effort with something authentic of themselves. All of these components require the presence of an active intellect which is constantly gathering and organizing diverse and complex information. When these 'responsibilities' have been met, I believe the artist must then, in effect, let go of them and allow intuition to guide everything into the eye and the hand. All this is by way of answering the unasked question, 'What is your work about?' The answer, hopefully, is that it isn't 'about' anything. Rather, that it contains a compelling meaning for which any other form of language would have been found wanting." (p.5).

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