essays by
Carin Kuoni
Carin Kuoni was director of the Swiss Institute, New York, from 1992 to 1997. In 1998, she joined Independent Curators International (ICI), New York, as director of exhibitions.
The Woven Piece, 1995.
Acrylic paint on paper.
118 x 59 inch / 300 cm x 150 cm
Reflecting the energy and vibrancy of New York, The Woven Piece was created by Swiss artist Jacqueline Frankel, who moved to this city in 1993. Constructed of hundreds of strands of paper, it has an unexpected intimacy despite its size.
The work has many layers, both spatial and temporal. The paper strips have been woven together and layered on top of each other. They originate from earlier paintings the artist made and later cut up. In a sense, these earlier works are part of them. The destructive act is thus followed by reconstruction-the artist reassembles the fragments to create a new whole, building it up slowly from paper strip to small squares to large and luminescent fields of color. This process allows her to use the smaller pieces almost like a deck of cards and assemble them in varying configurations. The pieces are often interchangeable and suggest a very playful atmosphere.
In a gentle nod to her predecessors of the Conceptual Art movement, the artist determines the working method but not the final outcome. Once the weave is initiated, Frankel loses control, and colors and patterns combine regardless of her aesthetic preference. She seeks coincidence-or even accidents-as integral elements of the art-making process, and the surprises they harbor.
The weave renders this work without direction; the strands run up and down, left and right, and the result is a weightless carpet of colors floating in space. It dances along the wall as it accompanies the visitor down the hall, softly warping to the requirements of its own paper components. Not unlike the reflections of the stained glass windows in a church, it has an atmospheric presence much beyond its materials.
Any Color, 1995.
Pencil, ink, marker, acrylic on canvas
48 x 48 inch / 122 x 122 cm
The title of this work, Any Color, can be understood quite literally. Not only does it consist of any and every imaginable color, the paint media are equally comprehensive, ranging from maker to ink to acrylic. Jacqueline Frankel, a Swiss artist who moved to New York, in 1993, has obsessively filled the canvas with lines, most of them delineating rectangular shapes. It doesn't seem quite coincidental that die painting itself is trapezoid, a prism through which to view the other prisms. In terms of color as well as composition, Any Color indicates open-endedness.
Upon closer examination, the whole consists of nothing but frames, a mesmerizing jumble of self-referential outlines hurled into depth. Despite the visual density we actually look into perpetually empty space that the artist has opened for us-without letting anything of her own history sneak in.
While aesthetically not unrelated to Jackson Pollock's all-over painting, the line here is actually an indication of the absence of artistic choice, following as it does a very limited number of outlines. Rather than being an expression of the artist's emotions-as is Pollock's work-Any Color is a very systematic construction whose eerie emptiness and beauty invite the viewer to fill in the blanks.
*The text was written in 1997 to introduce the staff and clients of Bank Julius Baer, New York, to Jacqueline Frankel. The above-referenced two works had recently been acquired by the bank.