International Gallery Representation

Please direct gallery representation inquiries to root(at)franklin-arts.com. Please make sure to include your gallery's address and telephone number. Thank you very much.

Burn, Bitch, Burn

Burn, Bitch, Burn, a photo by Frank Christopher Schroeder on Flickr.

2012 | 30 x 40 | pen, ink, Molotow markers on paper

I Feel Your Pain (And I Survive)

____2011
____acrylics, water colors, pen, Molotov markers on screen printing board
____100 x 70 cm

Welcome To Hell (Fukushima Is Everywhere)

____2011
____acrylics on screen printing board
____100 x 70 cm

Happiness In Slavery (Fixed)

____Tryptich
____2011
____acrylics on screen printing board
____100 x 210 cm

My First Show

 It was pretty obvious that I would not have a chance in hell to ever get an opportunity to exhibit in my hometown. Selftaught, artistically unschooled, no contacts, no connections, no chance whatsoever. Which is kind of interesting because my city had been at the forefront of classical modern art when the expressionists first came out.

  But then, come to think of it, they drove Marc and Kandinsky out of town back in the day and only started to fall in love with them long after they were both dead. There is no way I could compare myself with those guys but it does give you an idea of peoples' mentality here. Of most of them, anyway.

  So when the opportunity to move to Los Angeles presented itself, I jumped at it, figuring that if I could land some sort of exhibition - any sort of exhibition, really - that fact would be helpful in getting my stuff shown at home (sort of, look, he's still a nogooder but he exhibited overseas, so he must have something). It more or less actually worked out that way, so how's that for a plan?

  Less than three months into my West Coast expedition they held the L.A. Open Art Festival, anybody could participate, all you had to do was show up. I went to the Onyx Cafe and Gallery, filled out a form and they assigned a spot to me, parking lot, middle wall. Needless to say, I was electrified, my first show, wow.
  Since I didn't have enough money to buy proper frames I had to figure out a way to attach the paintings - all of them on paper - to the parking lot wall. I ended up going to the hardware store to buy long silver steel nails and a hammer so that I could nail the things straight to the wall. I still have some of those paintings, and they sport the holes to support my story. I would not let technical difficulties caused by lack of funding keep my first show from happening. Click here for pictures.

  It is quite a thing to show your work publicly for the first time, it feels a little like performing a striptease on Santa Monica Pier on a Sunday afternoon, all eyes on you, nowhere to hide, everything out in the open. But having other people stop and look at what you have done is priceless. That's what it's all about, man. It doesn't matter if they like it or not. It also doesn't matter if somebody buys something, although that's nice (admittedly), but it does not matter.

 The Open Art Festival itself was fun, I met some interesting people. To the left of my little section of the Onyx Cafe & Gallery's parking lot wall there were two other painters. The first was a guy who called himself Stephensky. He had huge canvases up, he had his own studio and the way he talked about himself and his art left little doubt about the fact that he was going to be the next big thing in the arts. I was impressed. I checked the net the other day, couldn't find him. Maybe he changed his name.

 Next to Stephensky was Robert Youngman, who was always accompanied by Erika, his wife - I think - and her son Travis. They were nice and easy going. Good people. Human beings. They had met at some alcohol detox facility and were dry when I met them, so lots of coffee, tea and cigarettes, no booze, which suited me just fine. We got on well instantly and met on various occasions afterwards, they even invited me over to their place a couple of times and we sat around and talked a lot and watched Wings Of Desire and documentaries about Braque and Matisse.

  I've been checking the net regulary ever since, couldn't find any of them. I fear that Robert has stopped painting altogether, which would be a crying shame because he used to make those very intricate, very intensive paintings which were inspired by native american culture and its symbols and deities. The head of each figure was usually depicted as a skull which probably did not help in making the paintings compatible with the taste of the average home decorator. But then it didn't look like they were made for commercial motives anyhow. How I wish I had one of those paintings.

  Along with the various art exhibitions they also had lots of other things going on at the festival, like poetry readings and performances. I remember two bums - I don't know if they were actual bums even though they sure looked the part - giving an impromptu concert right there sporting two acoustic guitars, the type you got at the supermarket for ten bucks.
  They played a set of ten songs and counted each song down, announcing them like 'OK, people, two down, so you only have another eight to sit through'. One was an acoustic version of the Dead Kennedys Let's Lynch The Landlord. Very unpretentious, very original.
  They should have recorded them right on the spot for the Library of Congress, the way they used to do with the old Blues guys in the 1940s.

Decade Null

____2010
____acrylics on wood
____80 x 30 cm

Potted Plant #10 (Melody Lee)

 


____2009
____acrylics on screen printing board
____100 x 70 cm

'Rolling Cloud' Preceding A Thunderstorm

___2009
___camera: Nokia N95

Potted Plant #9

____2008
____Collage / Mixed Technique on paper
____92 x 63 cm

The KUNSTBLOCK Years: Some songs released on MySpace

More vintage KUNSTBLOCK work is getting some long overdue exposure on a MySpace music account under www.myspace.com/kunstblock.

KUNSTBLOCKs approach was very independent and motivated by the Do It Yourself (DIY) attitude best known from the punk and hardcore scene which also led the band to name their musical style DEHC - Digital Electronic Hardcore.

Even though musical recording technology has evolved somewhat during the past 15 years this material, recorded in the early 1990s on analog equipment, stands on its own and is a good way to document where I was at during that period of time.

Magic Mushrooms

___2008
___camera: Nokia N95

Music: Zeitgeist Disint 6

From June 1994 to February 1996 I recorded some music that did not really fit in with the Kunstblock work.

The common thread was that all songs were instrumentals consisting of sampled classical instruments and an urban type dance beat alongside the usual generic electronic sounds. The tracks ranged from 95 to 141 bpm.

The project was called Zeitgeist: Disint 6.

A collection of six songs made it onto the demo tape The Six Stages Of Disintegration which was recorded in 1996 and sent out to various record companies and magazines. After the demo the project was discontinued.

Once again, these songs would most likely have been lost forever but thanks to the socalled Web 2.0 publishing previously unreleased music is now possible. The original demo is now available in its entirety for download and or direct listening media under http://www.myspace.com/disint6.

All tracks are unedited and left just the way they were originally recorded.

Potted Plant #8 (St. Anger)

___2008
___pen, markers and ink on paper
___30 x 40 cm

The KUNSTBLOCK Years

During the early 90s I was involved in a few music projects and the EBM / digital electronic hardcore band KUNSTBLOCK was one of them. After roughly three years the project was disbanded leaving a stack of unreleased demo songs that never saw the light of day.
The way things were then this would have been the end of it. However, through the emergence of both MP3 and Youtube these songs get a late and previously unexpected chance for release at last.

Potted Plant #5

___2008
___pen, markers and ink on paper
___30 x 40 cm

Potted Plant #4

___2008
___pen, markers and ink on paper
___30 x 40 cm

Olympic Tower Sunset

___2008
___camera: Nokia N95

Potted Plantz - A new set on FlickR

Pensa!

___2008
___collage / mixed media on paper
___30 x 40 cm

Free Tibet. End the opression NOW.

Back at the funny farm

___2008
___100 x 70 cm
___acrylics on screen printing board

_...stay calm, don't be alarmed,
_it's just a holiday,
_back at the funny farm ...

Press Coverage

This nice and favourable review (click on picture to enlarge) was published in Cologne. It is encouraging to see that someone understands and appreciates what we are doing.

© Lydia Keck, Kölnische Rundschau, 19.02.2008. Published with permission.

Konglomerat In Cologne

Keeping it real once again, this time in Cologne.

The Konglomerat In Köln exhibition opened Friday at the Alte Feuerwache.

Artists present at the vernissage were (see upper photo from left to right) Olaf Scherken, Victoria van Beek, Peter Klint, Ingo Schuch, Birgit Richter-Trautmann (who also organised the show), Cabron, Frank Christopher Schröder.

Also in the show but unavailable in person for the evening were Adam Tompkins, Andreas Torneberg, Christien Lloyd and Danny Gijsbers.

The exhibition itself was well received by both artists and visitors and once more proved that the old do-it-yourself spirit is still alive and kicking.

Fotos of the event can be found here and here.

Konglomerat in Cologne

___Konglomerat in Cologne
___Group Show
___2008
___Alte Feuerwache, Cologne

___photos

The Webshop is online

It is done. After years (literally) of testing and searching for the right shopping cart solution, it is now possible to buy limited edition Frank Christopher Schroeder prints.

Each copy is handnumbered and handsigned, the editions low on the number of copies made.

The number of items available will increase over time and we will happily appreciate suggestions.

Also, since the shop is in constant beta so to speak, if you happen to come across a technical or logical glitch, please let me know.

The address of the shop is www.frankchristopherschroeder.de/shop/, original artwork for the home and office are now just a click away.

Mother (Danzig 1988)

___2008
___70 x 50 cm
___acrylics on canvas

___ ... Mother, tell your children not walk my way,
___ mother, tell your children not to hear my words,
___ what they mean, what they say ...

Au By Night

___2008
___camera: Nokia N95

From Here To There: The Process

This post is an attempt at showing the creative process which led in this case to I Can See For Miles (Keith Moon). Not all paintings are done this way but some are. It is a modern version on the old traditional process that takes an original idea through various stages of sketches and studies to the final painting.

The original image in this case is a series of snapshots of Keith Moons drumkit printed out on an old b/w laserprinter (picture 1).

Stage two are pencil sketches which are all done freehand without tracing or technical or optical aides (picture 2).

Next in line are colored sketches on paper using acrylics, water colors, paint markers and whatever else is at hand (picture 3). This part, like almost everything else, is very free and unrestricted, its main purpose is to develop the form, the colors are irrelevant at this point.

The final step is the painting itself (picture 4) done on screen printing board in oil or acrylics.

This whole process is very lose and flexible. The form is now the framework upon which the colors and additional shapes are given room to evolve, comparable to blues based rock'n'roll played by the likes of The Cream, Black Sabbath and, yes, The Who where a rather simple recurring rhythm is used as the base upon which the various instruments improvise thus spontaneously creating something that is totally unplanned and unexpected.

New exhibition Feb 2008 in Cologne

A new show is being organised in Cologne featuring around a dozen interesting artists from the KONGLOMERAT / Stuckist scene.

A detailed list of people taking part (including yours truly) and some more information can be found here.

Pasing Station Northern Side

___2008
___camera: Nokia N95

Peace Dog

___2007
___40 x 50 cm
___acrylics on canvas

Robert Oscar Lenkiewicz: The Glue Sniffer

England, 1986. On a trip through the south of England I took a walk in the harbor area of Plymouth where I saw this painting in a shop window or so I thought.

It turned out that it was not a shop after all but a former shop that had been turned into a artists studio. The artist working there was Robert Oscar Lenkiewicz who made it very clear that he was not a shopkeeper and hated being mistaken for one. After I apologised for intruding we had little chat nevertheless which left me deeply impressed by both the man and his work.

By accident, after more than 20 years, I found the painting on Google Images (I love the net) and I still recall the deep impression it had on me when I first saw it because it proved that 'traditional' painting is as important as it ever was. Before seeing this painting I had always thought that realistic painting was a thing of the past, boring and rendered useless by the invention of photography. 'The Glue Sniffer' changed that once and for all.

I had always hoped to return and meet him again one day but it was not to be. Robert Oscar Lenkiewicz died on the 6th of August, 2002.

The man is gone but, as they say, his legacy remains.

© Image Copyright Robert Oscar Lenkiewicz.

The masters series: Joe Petagno (Pt. 2)

Another Perfect Day (pictured left) is another fine example for the intensity and skill of Joe Petagnos oeuvre yet it also sets itself apart from the typical heavy metal imagery by somewhat abstracting the familiar Snaggletooth theme.

Interesting is also that both the Motörhead headline and the album title are part of the artwork itself rather than being added later.

This image had a lasting influence on my own way of seeing things and taught me to always try and observe things from different angles.

Some people may call this commercial illustration, I call it a masterpiece.

I love the album, too, but I seem to be contrary to popular opinion on this one.

© Image copyright Joe Petagno.

Interview by Duncan Cardillo, Wayne State University, Detroit

Questions: The Stuckist manifesto attacks art school education, saying it "...has become a slick bureaucracy, whose primary motivation is financial." Do you agree with the Stuckists opinion of art education? Do you think artists coming out of art school today are misguided by the educational system? Is there too much emphasis on theory and postmodernism?

That I can not answer from personal experience, because I have never been to art school. The main point here is that at a university people are being prepared for a CAREER and art school is no difference. For me the emphasis has always been on the ART ITSELF ignoring the career consequences. My objective has been always creating, not learning how to support myself through creating.

Did you study art at the university level, and if so, what was your experience like?

See above. I don't fit too well into hierarchies and I am not good at taking orders. Painting is the one field in my life where there are no limits, no compromises, total freedom, I can do what I like. Going to art school would have meant that I would have had to subordinate myself to a professor who would then have tried to force HIS point of view onto me thus obstructing the development of MY way. I could not allow this to happen.

If you identify yourself as a Stuckist, does it necessarily follow that you dislike conceptual art, installation art, or performance art?

Not necessarily. The thing that seems to annoy the Stuckists (and most people in general) is that most concept art lacks honesty, that spectators feel that are being made fun of. To me most of it looks like a clever money making scam and it does give contemporary art a bad name. There may be exceptions to that, though, and the line is not clear.

Do you communicate with other Stuckist groups?

Yes very frequently, in fact the German Stuckists are holding group exibitions (aptly entitled STUCKOMENTA) regularly, the next one will be taking place here in Munich at the end of March, 2007.

Is the Internet the catalyst for your becoming a Stuckist?

The Internet is the platform that makes most things possible and even though I came to know about Stuckism by reading a book, all communication has been over the net.

How do you respond to the charge that Stuckists are retrogressive, reactionary, conservative, or their work is derivative of older modern art movements-that Stuckism is indeed "stuck" in the past?

Wo cares ? All art is derivative to a certain extent at least. Bear in mind that Stuckism is not a style, it's a movement. And all those terms are just words, labels put on our work by someone else. The only thing that really matters is doing the artistic work, painting the paintings, taking the photographs, drawing the drawings. What somebody else thinks is of no importance to me. I am an idiot today, a hero tomorrow, an idiot again the day after, who cares ?

Why be a Stuckist-why identify with a group if artists are valued for their individuality?

As a Stuckist you don't hand over your individuality when you walk through the door. I have not adjusted the way I live and work even a little bit. The only difference now (after joining the Stuckists) is that I am what I am but I also (additionally) am a Stuckist.

Do you follow closely the developments of the original Stuckists?

I check the webpage regularly and I am in loose contact with some of the other Stuckists.

Is Stuckism in your nation different from British Stuckism, and how so?

It is at a whole different level here. In the UK you have lots of groups and also a lot of attention. In Germany it is still totally underground, just a few people organising their own shows. Attention is growing, though, and doing indpendent exhibitions is a lot of fun.

Do you agree with Charles Thomson and Billy Childish that art should be spiritually based?

How can it not be ? If what you do is not spiritually based, then it is hollow, lacking meaning, why bother ?

Do you think postmodern art practices are devoid of spirituality?

I don't know enough about postmodern art practices to make a judgement.

What is your opinion of young British artists ("yBas") such as Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin, Sarah Lucas, Jake and Dinos Chapman, Chris Ofili, etc.?

I have no real opinion about them because I have never met any of them in person and they don't speak to me through their work. If, for example, I look at Hirst's shark I feel ... nothing.

Do you think they are successful because they know how to promote themselves better than other artists do?

Definetely. And because they have had the right people supporting them in the background.

Interview conducted by Duncan Cardillo, Wayne State University, Detroit, March 2007

The masters series: Joe Petagno

Heavy Metal art has been featured under sources of inspiration in this blog more than once because it did inspire me more than anything, definetely more than the socalled "high culture" which has remained alien to me (mostly) to this day.

Joe Petagno has his unmistakable style and the images he created for Motörhead are imprinted on the collective consciousness of a whole generation.

What makes the difference is the display of pure energy that is missing from a lot of socalled radical art these days.

See www.petagno.dk for more information.

© Image copyright Joe Petagno

Stuckism Germany on MySpace

There is a new MySpace page of, by and about the German Stuckists and various friends. There is quite a lot happening presently and modern platforms like MySpace are really changing the way we are dealing with each other.

See www.myspace.com/stuckismus_de for details and become a friend if you want.

Wizards (Ralph Bakshi Part One)

The Ralph Bakshi Film Wizards released in 1977 had probably the deepest influence on my graphic style because it mixes various different styles by somehow layering various images on top of each other.
Remember, this was back in the pre-computer age and the images in the movie were done by hand.
More information on Wizards can be found at www.ralphbakshi.com.

Watch the movie if you can, it's pretty hard to obtain in Europe, hopefully there will be a DVD re-release one day.

© Image copyright 2007 Bakshi Productions

Why staging a Stuckist show is also a political statement

Please forgive me for stating the obvious but some things have to be stressed every now and then in order not to allow them to be forgotten. Having the possibility to privately organise an exhibition of unconventional paintings and photographs is a privilege and a fairly new one at that.

Not so long ago in Germany's dark past most of the paintings exhibited in a show like the STUCKOMENTA 3 would have been considered 'degenerate' in the official language of that time. The artists involved could have been subjected to all sorts of abuse, ranging from personal harrassment to imprisonment, or worse.

Even if the term 'degenerate' is not used anymore nowadays many of the paintings shown would be impossible to exhibit in quite a few countries for the simple fact that they contain nudity or other subject matter that is considered 'unsuitable' or 'obscene' there.

Being able to organise a show of paintings without the fear of censorship, without risking negative consequences from official channels is a privilige not shared by the majority of people on planet earth. A good example for censorship still being present today is the fate of Stuckist collage artist Michael Dickinson who was imprisoned in Turkey for making a collage that critisizes the head of state, a thing forbidden in Turkey. (--> details)

Freedom of expression is not a given, and even though one is tempted to take it for granted, it has to be defended and fought for constantly.

If staging an independent art exhibition is helping just a little bit then that is an additional motivation to keep doing what we do.

View From The Balcony

___2007
___Collage, acrylics, Molotow markers and ballpen on paper

___Dimensions: Appr. 200 x 40 cm

This set of three pictures depicts the view from the balcony while the wind from the south is blowing that makes the Bavarian alps seem very close although they are more than 100 kilometers away.

Private View STUCKOMENTA 3

30. March, 2007
Stuckomenta 3, 10 artists from 3 countries in Munich.

Artists who made a personal apperance: Stuckists Mary von Stockhausen, Christian Malsch and Frank Christopher Schroeder as well as guest artists Birgit Richter-Trautmann and Manuel Goetz.

The estimated 100 plus guests responded very well in many different ways both to the exhibition itself and the fact that it was a selforganised and independent show, manifesting itself among other things in half a dozen sales on that very evening.

The exhibition space, a comunity center that includes an 88 seat cinema, is rather unusual as a venue for hanging paintings and gave the show an additional underground edge.

Photographs of the event are available here.

STUCKOMENTA 3

___STUCKOMENTA 3
___Group Show
___2007
___Forum2, Munich

___photos

Dead Heroes: Rockaway Beach (Dee Dee Ramone)

___2006
___acrylic colours on screen printing board
___100 x 70 cm

STUCKOMENTA III

Here we go again: The STUCKOMENTA series of exhibitions makes a stop in Munich. The number of exhibiting artists has meanwhile increased to ten so the variety keeps getting bigger.

The show will be held at the Forum2 in the Olympic Village. It will run from March 30 through May 12, 2007.

A vernissage will be held on the opening day, March 30, 2007, from 8pm to 11pm. Admission is free.

More information can be found here.

Wrathchild (Japan)

\___2006
\___acrylic colors on screen printing board
\___70 x 100 cm











This painting was partly inspired by the live version of the Iron Maiden song Wrathchild that was recorded in 1981 and released on the Maiden Japan album. Faster and even more intensive than the studio version the track, as well as the rest of the album, displays an enthusiasm on the behalf of the musicians that seems genuine and honest. Playing the song while looking at the picture adds an additional dimension to it.

Piranha (Paul Baloff)

___2006
___acrylic colors on screen printing board
___70 x 100 cm

An attempt at explaining the work: The painting above Piranha (Paul Baloff) is one of the pictures that could be called "heavy metal inspired art" in lack of a better term. It is dedicated, as the title implies, to the late Paul Baloff. The question is if it is possible to catch the essence of someone you have never - or in this case only once, briefly - met in person.
The answer in my opinion is yes. Artists and especially performers like musicians, speak through their work. So portraying someone on the basis of their work is therefore justified. The Exodus album Bonded by Blood was a milestone in the then radically new and exciting field of thrash metal, the album itself conserves a period of time that I, for various reasons, hold very dear.

The latest pictures on Flickr

Modern times: I have set up a Flickr account in order to be able to show the latest paintings without delay and without any time consuming HTML antics. See www.flickr.com/photos/frankschroeder/ for details.

Emerald (Phil Lynott)

___2005
___acrylic colours on screen printing board
___100 x 70 cm

The Real Me (John Entwistle)

___2004
___acrylic colors on screen printing board
___100 x 70 cm

For Whom The Bell Tolls (Cliff Burton)

___2004
___acrylic colors on screen printing board
___100 x 70 cm

Do Or Die

2006
pencil on paper
30 x 40 cm

And The There Were None

2006
pencil on paper
30 x 40 cm