Friday, December 7, 2007

FRANKY RICH: Boldly, visually...empowered!


“Letting go of the desire to control the end result unleashes an indefinable energy, food for the soul”
-Franky Rich, July 2002

Visual artist Franky Rich is turning 80 next year. She has enjoyed a career as a painter, fashion designer (ask her about Ertha Kitt), interior designer and performance artist. I have known Franky for a few months now and, based on several in-depth personal discussions with her, I can truthfully say that her art (especially her paintings) is what has kept her strong over the decades. She has weathered the ups and downs of life with a childlike grace. She is an inspiration to many.

I first met Franky Rich at a social gathering she hosted at her home a few months ago, and I was taken by her story. Here was this woman, approaching 80, going blind yet still painting and living life to the fullest. The walls of her apartment are full of her paintings going back decades. They weave a narrative of her origins, her encounters and her hopes for the future.

The single unifying belief that permeates all of her work is that this current life, our “reality” is transient and part of one’s larger cosmic journey through time and space. Instead of muddling through an explanation of this, I’ll let The Bard step in with a more elegant summary of Franky’s beliefs about the nature of our existence on this planet. “We are such stuff as dreams are made on; and our little life, is rounded with a sleep”.

The interview with Franky Rich focused on her Artist Statement she penned in July 2002. The opening line reads: “Art can be understood, it cannot be explained” Although she studied art at colleges in her native South Africa and Quebec, she feels that her paintings have always been intuitive. When she found out a few years ago that she is gradually losing her vision, she initially felt a lot of anger and did not leave her apartment for a few months. The need to be creative eventually overcame any depression she felt and now she proudly proclaims to be “visually empowered.” She now no longer feels bound by the canvass and traditional forms of presenting art. Her blindness liberated her thinking about art and certainly her life. I could not help but think of Milton’s elegant sonnet which he penned “On his Blindness”.

Thirty minutes flew by mighty fast as we discussed a wide range of topics from her family, growing up in South Africa and the awful sights she witnessed there as a child, coming to Canada in the 1960s and her friendship with Toronto poet Bill Bissett. As for Franky’s future plans…you heard it here first… She is doing a multimedia show with the talented musician Marc Ellis in May 2008 titled Divine Monsters, Future Landscapes (based on a series of her paintings with that title). I will forward more information on that event in the New Year when details are available.

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