Natalie Frank

In her oil-on-canvas and mixed-media paintings, Natalie Frank plumbs human nature, seeking to convey, through her roiling, lush, and visceral compositions, the complexity and mutability of identity. As she describes: “The narrative—the stories that people tell and use to construct their lives, whether it be religious, humanistic, mythical, social, was and is my entry point in painting and the figure.” Frank, who has been called a “painter’s painter”, draws inspiration from literature and art history, and cites the Grimm brothers’ fairy tales, Italian Renaissance painting, the German and Austrian Expressionists, and R.B. Kitaj as influences. Her works—ranging from small-scale portraits to large narrative scenes—are centered on the human figure, rendered semi-abstract and in heighted physical and emotional states. Frank is a storyteller. Through her bold, dramatic handling of paint, she reveals the struggle of being human.