Smoke & Mirrors

New York Spaces Magazine Features Frank Faulkner

2008-06-30T20:21:00.000-07:00

SLEIGHT OF HAND
PHOTOGRAPHY PETER MARGONELLI
INTERIOR DESIGN FRANK FAULKNER
TEXT MARC KRISTAL

In his Hudson Valley home and shop, Frank Faulkner practices the fine art of illusion

APPEARANCES CAN BE DECEIVING, AS FRANK FAULKNER PROVED WHEN HE purchased his Hudson, New York, home. "It was the last really affordable place in town," the North Carolina born artist says of the two-story nineteenth-century carriage house and its attached 1950s-era garage he discovered under three feet of snow. Even better than this reverse sticker shock was the architecture's classical appeal.

"Classicism, for me, implies order and clarity, and this had that potential," says Faulkner. "There were just a few rooms, but they were well proportioned and scaled. I thought I could slap on a coat of paint and move in." Alas, when the spring snow melt exposed extensive dilapidation, he recalls, "I realized I was going to have to completely rebuild the house. I can"t seem to resist buying derelict houses and fixing them up." The artist bought his first Hudson Valley property in 1982, and has restored some 14 homes in the area since.

This time, Faulkner's interventions produced not only clarity but a sense of capaciousness. Working with architect Juan Carretero and garden designer Peter Bevacqua, the artist completely reconstructed both house and grounds. Faulkner turned the carriage house's entire front room into an entrance gallery, he says, "so you didn't feel you were walking into a mean little cottage." The fifties garage became a pavilion containing the living and dining rooms, while the second floor was converted into a loftlike master suite.

Decoratively, the artist united his interest in "classical furniture with a strong architectural silhouette" with mutually enriching juxtapositions of refined and ordinary pieces. While his collection includes examples of Biedermeier and Regency,many acquired from his "style mentor," the antiquarian Niall Smith: choices are never about value or provenance. "Everything is bought with an eye to proportion and scale and line," he says. "And nothing gives me more satisfaction than to take a piece of flea-market junk and change its context, put it beside something really good. It's all in the mix."

This philosophy carries over into Smoke and Mirrors, the store-front gallery Faulkner and his partner Philip Kesinger opened on Warren Street, Hudson's commercial artery. Faulkner initially used the 2000-square-foot floor-through exclusively as a painting studio. "But Philip and I are pack rats and had an overflow of stuff." There was also an eclectic collection of furnishings and objects drawn from the artist's second career as "a designer by default." So the pair converted the front third of the studio into a showcase for the high-and-low-style tableaux Faulkner characterizes as "sleight of hand." A master of illusion, the artist illustrates, once again, that deceptive appearances can be unexpectedly exciting.

Read the full story HERE

Rural Intelligence

2008-05-06T15:38:00.001-07:00

From the Dutchess and Columbia County Blog, Rural Intelligence

Ever notice how, no matter how many decorating magazines you read, you still learn next-to-nothing about how interior designers think? Herewith, a remedy: Hudson artist-designer Frank Faulkner divulges fourteen simple rules that he follows himself whether he’s designing a room or an entire house. Consider Rule #2, Bring in Light and Life: Sunshine, breezes, plants, and books, of course, but also sparkle—mirrors, candles—to lend vitality.

Read more of the Frank Faulkner story HERE

Faulkner Exhibition Terenchin Fine Art Catskill, New York

2008-02-01T13:16:00.000-08:00

Closing Party: Saturday, February 16, 6-8pm.

Terenchin Fine Art presents the third and final installment of Critical Mass. The current exhibition, an extension of Faulkner's 2007 landscape show, includes never-before-seen additions to the series. On view now through February 16 are new panels depicting flora compositions and nocturnes. The show introduces some of the strongest large-scale paintings from the series. The pieces offer some of the most elaborate and adventurous layering examples of the collection. In the case of Helios, 2007 (pictured), any trace of landscape has been ostensibly eradicated, calling into question the utility of intelligible mimetic space. Increasingly, central compositional subjects are featured. Medallion-like designs rest uneasily between representation and fantasy, merging the real with the realm of dreams.

Latest Images from Smoke and Mirrors

2008-01-22T06:01:00.001-08:00

LATEST PHOTO SHOOT FOR SMOKE AND MIRRORS

Opening NightCritical Mass, Part TwoDecember 15, 2007

2007-12-29T07:26:00.000-08:00

Critical Mass, Part Two

2007-12-02T16:58:00.000-08:00

Terenchin Fine Art

Frank Faulkner
December 15, 2007 - January 12, 2008

December 1, 2007 - For Part Two of his double solo show, artist Frank Faulkner fills the gallery space with new landscapes: pencil drawings, acrylics on paper and large-scale canvas paintings. The December presentation is an overview of Faulkner's recent experiments with representational imagery, a decisive departure from the artist's signature structural abstraction. Heavily layered, organic compositions take their cues from natural (and sometimes unnatural) flora. The artist's technique remains unchanged: a rich variety of texture and color evoking the qualities of tapestry and mosaics. Central designs are positioned in spaces suggestive of landscapes. The settings utilize horizon lines and natural, atmospheric light to orient the viewer. Ultimately, however, these artistic conventions serve to disorient: the sometimes fantastic scenes remind us of dream settings or magical stage sets. As a whole, the new body of work makes an argument for the imaginary vs. the empirical world.

The exhibition will open on Saturday, December 15, 2007 and will run through Saturday, January 12 2008. The gallery is open Wednesday through Saturday, 11 am - 5 pm. Sunday, 12 noon - 4 pm. For further information and images, please contact Patrick Terenchin at 518.943.5312 or email citypictures@hotmail.com

THE INDEPENDENT: David Usborne, Our Man In New York

2007-11-27T21:25:00.000-08:00

David Usborne: Our Man In New York
The day my neighbour used me for a well-hung portrait
Published: 26 November 2007

It is a little late for me to be considering a modelling career, I know. I felt awkward enough pausing between roasted sprouts at Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday as our host fumbled with his digital camera. Please don't ask me ever to sit for a serious photographer or pose for a real artist, especially not disrobed.

CLICK HERE AND READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Terenchin Fine Art Catskill, NY Critical Mass

2007-11-27T21:04:00.000-08:00

PHOTOS FROM THE NOVEMBER 17th OPENING

FRANK FAULKNER"S CRITICAL MASS

Opening at TERENCHIN FINE ART, November 17, 2007

2007-11-01T12:11:00.000-07:00

TERENCHIN FINE ART

Frank Faulkner
November 17, 2007 - January 12, 2008

Stripped of attributes and all rhetoric surrounding the body are the naked models depicted in Frank Faulkner's Critical Mass. For his first of two shows at Terenchin Fine Art, the artist presents graphite drawings to be exhibited through December 12. Part Two opens on December 15. The drawings will be replaced with recent landscapes to be exhibited through January 12, 2008.

Faulkner continues his interest in serial imagery concentrated on a specific form. Critical Mass takes this process to a new level by exploring the human figure and the human condition. In studio sessions using live models, the artist ignores the specificity of faces in favor of corresponding genitals: a body part useless for purposes of public identification. A readjustment and reevaluation of the tacit artist-model contract is required of the viewer. The images function as anti-portraits, concealing more than they reveal. Critical Mass challenges our notion of exposure in a new century defined by its obsession with privacy and publicity, access and exclusion.

The exhibition functions as a preview. At an unspecified time, the project concludes with the publication of a bound edition featuring over 100 images from the series. Critical Mass is a work in progress, representing sessions with 23 models, a number that will proliferate until completion.

Opening Party for Part One: Saturday November 17, 6:00-8:00pm

Opening Party for Part Two: Saturday December 15, 6:00-8:00pm

The exhibition will open on Saturday, November 17 and will run through January 12, 2008. The Gallery is open Monday through Wednesday 1-5pm and Saturday 1-5pm. For further information or images, please contact Patrick Terenchin at 518-943-5312.

Smoke and Mirrors featured in November Elle Decor

2007-10-24T06:54:00.000-07:00

FROM ELLE DECOR

What's Hot! Shops: Upstate, NY (continued)

Photo: Greg Howell

Frank Faulkner Smoke & Mirrors, Hudson
Not only does the acclaimed abstract painter’s shop offer one-of-a-kind home furnishings, it is also his personal studio. Faulkner’s eclectic array of evocative antiques and distinctive salvage embodies his wide-ranging aesthetic: His appreciation for the classics—a sunburst mirror, marble statuary—is balanced by great vintage finds. 339 Warren St., 518-828-0709; frankfaulkner.com

Judy Ann MacMillan Reception Held September 2

2007-09-04T16:22:00.001-07:00

Frank Faulkner and Philip Kesinger hosted an opening reception for Judy Ann MacMillan on Sunday, September 2, 2007. Ms. MacMillan's current work includes landscapes of the Hudson Valley. A special thanks to all in attendance for making the opening a great success.

Her previous work is featured in the book, My Jamaica: The Paintings of Judy Ann MacMillan. To view more information about this wonderful book featuring her striking portraits and landscapes of Jamaica, click here........

http://www.judyannmacmillan.com/

And a special thanks to Kathrine Moore and John Drew for their assistance.