Artist Interview: Sherie’ Franssen

14 Jun Artist Interview: Sherie’ Franssen

It's been a while since the last Artist Interview so we are long over due and I'm happy to be bringing back the series with the best painter (IMHO) based in Orange County, Sherie' Franssen. Without further ado:

Tell us about your work:
Visually the work is always based on the human figure, in some sense. Painting the flesh is a visceral experience for me and not something I will ever willingly give up.  Bacon famously said, "We're born, we copulate, we die…" and that says it all for me. Whether the work takes on a realistic or abstract appearance, just the use of oil paint is inherently sexual and there's no escaping it.  Because the same cannot be said for acrylic, it is useless to me.  I try to work every day and the most successful pieces are born out protracted periods of trial and error. There is always an initial idea, sometimes a very small one, but it's just a starting point.  If I'm patient, the painting develops it's own subject and takes twist and turns that would have never occurred to me and that's the greatest reward.

Artist influence:
Rembrandt, Bacon, DeKooning, Joan Mitchell, Per Kirkeby, Susan Rothenberg, Baselitz early work, David Park, Diebenkorn early figurative, Nathan Oliveira early existential figures…the whole Baroque and Roccoco periods. How could I forget Velazquez and GOYA…maybe Goya is the one, the everything for me. Because of his humanity and incisiveness and not a day passes that I don't look at him. Rembrandt…the inherent voluptuousness in all the DRAWING and PAINTING…and they look like they were done yesterday and reach across time with their presence.  These are elusive qualities unique only to him.  Bacon, his grasp of reality is so prescient today and must be considered by anyone seriously looking at the figure. DeKooning combines qualities of the two mentioned above.  Susan Rothenberg for her fearless and brave brushstrokes.  David Park for his humanity. Diebenkorn for his detached elegance.  Nathan Oliveira for his agonizing love. Velazquez because he embodies all the romance in painting I can bear. Last and first, Mark Dutcher because he is our dreamer painter for today and almost no one touches him.

What motivates You:
To tell you the truth, the need to paint is a force I can't quite explain. My earliest memories are about just wanting to do it and that it was the most natural way for me to tell a story.  It is a compelling feeling that is always present and nothing makes it go away, not even the ACT of painting.  The only time I feel not motivated is right after a show goes up, but that is mostly mild depression that I can't do it again. The solution to that is to pick up the brush.

In California you can stand on your own and find your own way without cleaving to any one dogma or school of thought, and I see that as a good thing.  Out in Orange County I feel isolated from the LA scene, but being a loner it's not so bad.  In the OC there's are nice art communities if you take advantage of it, but that's a personal choice. I like being away from the influence of LA, but there are less venues in OC, so maybe that's a disadvantage.  I tend to keep to myself, so I don't know much about those communities.  Before I was 38 years old I had never been to a museum nor did I know about the artworld as it is today.  I have just felt my way along and made attempts here and there to get the work shown.  I cannot take the credit though, because it is the kind and supportive people who have shown the work who have made things good for me.  In the end the most important thing to me is to improve the painting.

Next thing up..
A group show at Jancar Gallery called "No One Under 18", then a solo at Dolby Chadwick in SF in December, after that, well, we'll see….