Neon Parc acknowledges the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung and Bunurong Boon Wurrung as the Traditional Owners and sovereign custodians of the Country on which we operate. We pay our deepest respects to their Elders past and present. Always was, always will be Aboriginal land.
Dale Frank was born 1959 in Wonnarua/Singleton, New South Wales, Australia. Lives and works in Wonnarua/Singleton, Australia.
Dale Frank’s paintings are experiments in chemical, time and motion studies, developed and refined over his 35-year career. His distinct technique involves layering varnishes, oil paints, lighter fluid, Penetrol and other found elements over long periods, resulting in abstract and psychedelic compositions. Working on a horizontal surface, Frank pours and manipulates his alchemistic mix of materials creating luminous pools of pigment that immediately begin to resist and coalesce through the artist’s performative interventions.
“It is a totally hands on and cerebral way of painting,” declares Frank. The reflective nature of Frank’s recent output extends the stage from the artist to the viewer, the reflectivity of the work captures the onlooker in the performative act of viewing. This effect acts to blur the lines between art action and life action, adding poetic pertinence to the quotidian, an effect which is continued through Frank’s titling of the works with invented or overheard phrases that read like short stories or snippets of conversations.
Installation view, Dale Frank, 55th Art Cologne, Cologne, Germany, 2022.
‘Showers and Growers’, National Art School Gallery, Sydney
‘Dale Frank’ Melbourne Art Fair, Neon Parc, Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre
2023
‘Cynthia’s Ovaries swelled to the size of Grapefruit’, Neon Parc, Melbourne
‘Jacob took seven minutes before he could piss’, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
‘DALE FRANK ARTIST!’, Gruin Gallery, Los Angeles
2022
‘Dale Frank’, Art Cologne, Neon Parc, Koln, Germany
‘It’s Such A Perfect Day…’, Neon Parc Brunswick, Melbourne
‘this is a floatation device, this is not a life saving device’, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
‘The Super Spreader’, Neon Parc Brunswick, Melbourne
‘In The Dark The Drunken Ghosts Of Masturbations Past’, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland
2021
‘The Super Spreader’, Neon Parc Brunswick, Melbourne
‘The Omega Variant Show’, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
‘Dale Frank’, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland
‘When his wife went away on her frequent business trips, Alex would often wear nothing but Huggies disposable nappies around their apartment’, Pearl Lam Galleries, Hong Kong
2020
‘Shaun taught piano’, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
‘Screenprints’, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland
2019
‘Dale Frank’, Neon Parc, Melbourne
‘Dale Frank’, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery
‘Dale Frank’, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland
2018
‘Dale Frank’, Olsen Gruin, New York
‘Dale Frank’, Gow Langsford Gallery
‘Dale Frank’, Auckland Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
2017
‘Dale Frank’, Neon Parc, Melbourne
‘Dale Frank’, Pearl Lam Galleries, Hong Kong
‘Dale Frank’, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
‘Dale Frank’, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland
2016
‘Sabco Peroxide’, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
Art Los Angeles Contemporary, (Neon Parc), Los Angeles
‘Dale Frank’, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland
‘Dale Frank’, Bank of America ML Gallery, Sydney
2015
‘Dale Frank’, Neon Parc, Melbourne
‘Dale Frank’, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland
Art Cologne, Neon Parc, Koln, Germany
2014
‘Toby Jugs’, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
2013
‘Nobody’s Sweetie’, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
‘Date Custard Tart’, Anna Schwartz Gallery, Melbourne
2012
Art Statements Gallery, Hong Kong
‘The Silence Rode a Donkey Into Town’, Reis Gallery, Singapore
The Armory Show, (Anna Schwartz Gallery), New York
2011
‘WACKY DUCK FLUFFY TOM’, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
‘Vibrant Matter’, Tarrawarra Museum of Art, Victoria
‘Mix Tape; 1980ʼs: Appropriation, Subculture, Critical Style’, National Gallery of Victoria,
Melbourne
‘Luminous World’, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth (touring nationally)
‘Every day I am a day older: Portraiture from the Griffith University Art Collection’, Griffith
University Art Gallery, Brisbane
2012-13
‘Les Arts De Lʼeffervescence Champagne’, Musée de Beaux Arts de Reims, Reims, France
2011
‘Forever Young: 30 Years of the Heide Collection’, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne
‘Gambatte Humanity’, Art Statements Tokyo Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
‘Inner Worlds; Portraits and Psychology’, National Portrait Gallery, Canberra New Psychedelia,
University of Queensland Art Museum, Brisbane
‘Hip To Be Square’, Art Statements Gallery, Hong Kong, China
2010
17th Biennale of Sydney, Sydney Cockatoo Island, Sydney
‘Frieze’, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland. New Zealand
(close)Dale Frank, 'John was overwhelmed, not by his own great credit rating, not by the overtly personal attentiveness shown in him by his assistants, not the public success he had achieved in some circles, but rather by his own thoughts, alone, thoughts in the dark, thoughts that made him bristle, threats to engage and engorge with', 2024. Powder pigment and translucent dye in easycast, epoxyglass on perspex, 200 x 200 cm.Dale Frank, 'Just as she started to realise her life was full, accepting that she could never be happier, with a job at ACCA that fulfilled her, as she crossed the Yarra that morning she caught sight of her reflection below, and it all changed', 2024. Powder pigment and translucent dye in easycast, epoxyglass on perspex, 200 x 200 cm.Dale Frank, 'Evan loved that he and his brother-in-law, gym partner, would at least 4 times a year go on a long road trip to Lightning Ridge, driving drinking beer, giving them long nights at motels along the way to compare their tats, their squat successes, and their problem relationships, shower and drink some more', 2024. Powder pigment and translucent dye in easycast, epoxyglass on perspex, 200 x 200 cm.Dale Frank, 'Single mother Alice had sacrificed so much bringing up her four teenage daughters, and longed for the days when they brought home serious boyfriends, so she could get to know them well, and spend personal time building a special close relationship with each of them, so her daughters might forget her past indiscretions', 2024. Powder pigment and translucent dye in easycast, epoxyglass on perspex, 200 x 200 cm.Dale Frank, 'Thirty year old Arturo and his mother moved from Brunswick to open a gelato shop just outside Byron Bay and have a new future together', 2023. Translucent dyes in pigment and easycast, epoxyglass, on perspex, 200 x 180 cm.Dale Frank, 'Listening to the cavernous empty space between them, while Simon sincerely spoke at length about his career, his plans for their future, Andy realised he was glad to be out of Brisbane, but would not mind going a little further', 2023. Translucent dyes in pigment and easycast, ‘Van Gogh's, ‘The Starry Night’ cardboard 500 piece jigsaw puzzle, epoxyglass, on perspex, 200 x 180 cm.Dale Frank, 'He felt so betrayed by everything around him, his every imagined sexual fantasy was meet with numbing gaviscon, and no matter how healthy he eat, an hour later he had to purge all from himself', 2023. Translucent dyes and easycast, epoxyglass, on perspex, 200 x 150 cm.Dale Frank, 'Peter’s predictions for the future included electric powered Utes and sexually free and diverse builder's apprentices', 2023. Translucent dyes in pigment and easycast, epoxyglass, on perspex, 150 x 100 cm.Dale Frank, 'He was a spiritual hypochondriac, he dreamt of reincarnation, as he had been so good in this life he dreamt of coming back as a bacteria living as an STD, desperately finding Tracy, his current boss’s housekeeper in this life, but then he thought no, pubic lice would be more fun', 2023. Translucent dyes in pigment and easycast, epoxyglass, on perspex, 200 x 200 cm.Dale Frank, ' He felt so betrayed by everything around him, the evaporation of the moisture of time, leaving the drought that created the incessant itch, the dry incontinence of doubt and the desert like fungi that invested in his toes', 2023. Translucent dyes and easycast, epoxyglass, on perspex, 200 x 150 cm.Dale Frank, ' Ryan Gosling', 2000. Varnish on canvas, 200 x 260 cm.Dale Frank, 'Shane is trying to sue Reece over his expenses putting a deposit on a unit in South Yarra claiming Reece’s body language on their night out at the Limerick Arms Hotel created the expectation that they would be life long soul partners', 2022. Colour pigments in epoxyglass, epoxyglass, on perspex, 200 x 200 cm.Dale Frank, Even though Albury was a vegan after his bong session he would strip off his pants and devour French cheese alone at 3.00 am, 2018, Tinted varnish, epoxyglass, on perspex, 200 x 200 cmDale Frank, Gardens of Enchantment, 2019
Varnish, epoxyglass, on perspex, 200 x 200 CmDale Frank, Sardine breath, 2019, Varnish, epoxyglass, on perspex, 150 x 100 cmDale Frank, He was often told he had green fingers but it was nothing to do with gardening, 2019, Tinted varnish, epoxyglass on perspex, 200 x 200 cmDale Frank, ‘They meet in the Premier First Class Poker Machine Lounge of the South Tweed Sportmans Club but it was not till the next morning after she paid for breakfast and the room that he realised she was the real Meg Ryan, someone famous and 15 years older than him’, 2020. Pigments in easycast resin, epoxyglass on perspex, 200 x 200 cm'Liam with 12 percent vision in one eye and 25 percent vision in the other eye does not drink does not smoke and lives alone with his grandfather', 2020. Pigments in easycast resin, epoxyglass on iridescent perspex, 120 x 120 cm'Luis said he came from a long family line of French inventors, before he invented the cardboard disposable coffin, his father in 1970 had invented the BIC Cricket disposable lighter, and his older brother Andre had invented edible panties. 5', 2020
Pigments in easycast resin, epoxyglass on perspex
150 x 100 cm.Dale Frank, 'Tiffany is suing the Hornsby Workers Club for Sexual Harassment after she insisted that the new migrant African kitchen workers were looking at her in a particularly funny way', 2022. Easycast and colour pigment, epoxyglass on perspex, 200 x 200 cm.Dale Frank, 'Rhonda 67, married from Testers Hollow, and Eric, 72, a bachelor from Coinda Retirement village, shared a room at the Federal B&B in Branxton the first monday night of each month, and have done so for the last 8 months, until the housekeeper refused their booking due to the mess which they would leave in their room with overturned chairs, pulled curtains and numerous used condoms', 2022. Epoxyglass and colour pigment, epoxyglass on perspex, 180 x 200 cm.Dale Frank, 'Alexander, 28yo, Andrew, 33yo, in a relationship, purchased 69 Erskineville Road, Erskineville after Alex’s 8 million Lotto win, Andrew is free to have anonymous sex to ease his Anorexia induced insecurities, and seems to enjoy being beaten up, Alex is into leather, pain, large female dogs, breeds Dobermanns, and the music of Iron Maiden, both are heavy prescription drug users for recreation', 2022. Epoxyglass and colour pigment, epoxyglass on perspex, 200 x 200 cm.Dale Frank, 'Anal Polyps', 2022. Epoxyglass and colour pigment, epoxyglass on perspex, 160 x 120 cm.Dale Frank, 'Ramon', 2017. Painted masks, epoxyglass on perspex, 200 x 200 cm.Dale Frank,
Anchovies on heat,
2015,
Shattered glass, varnish on Plexiglass,
210 x 170 x 8 cmDale Frank,
Taking her by the hand, being mean is a pressing necessity he said,
2015,
Varnish on anodised Perspex,
178 x 138 cmDale Frank,
All being even she lifted her skirt over her waist winning the argument immediately. Commodore SS VF, Cessnock NSW, 1+,
2015,
Varnish and broken windscreen on Perspex,
178 x 138 cmDale Frank, 'Coma 7 dead birds and tea bag flavoured egg rolls', 2017. Liquid glass, glitter, spray paint on perspex, 200 x 150 cm.Dale Frank, 'Dale dug a hole', 2017. Dyed hair wigs on perspex, 200 x 200 cm.Dale Frank, 'I'm sure he stole my wifi password', 2017. Varnish, glitter, spray paint, epoxyglass on perspex, 150 x 100 cm.Dale Frank,
She lifted her skirt above her waist and won the argument immediately,
2015,
Varnish on Perspex,
219 x 279 cmDale Frank, 'You are just trespassing I personify that voice within you', 2015. Cut stainless steel wind spinners, perspex, 219 x 280 x 70 cm.Dale Frank, 'Sometimes it is just a matter of telling yourself that you are in control', 2016. Varnish and vernish resin hardener on liquid glass on perspex, 200 x 200 cm.Dale Frank, ‘After their first night together she developed eczema over her thighs and legs but said it had nothing to do with him being Indigenous’, 2020. Powder pigments in resin, epoxyglass, on perspex, 200 x 200 cmDale Frank, ’Blake . 25, I work fulltime as a store man in a workshop in Geelong I also am a DJ. I love trains so that makes me a trainspotter, I love cars, I host my own car meets and I’m currently making a car to do burnouts in. I would like someone who is younger than 25, white and aussie, but also to love me for who I am even though I love trains. It would be a bonus to if they love cars’, 2020. ’, 2020. Pigments in easycast resin, Epoxyglass, on perspex, 200 x 200 cm.Dale Frank, 'Sunbury: her body was found ten days later in 3E at the Be Weight Safe Mobile Caravan Village', 2021. Powder colour pigments in Easycast resin, Epoxyglass, on perspex, 200 x 180 cmDale Frank, 'He thought no one noticed but he always looked at any bulge in another mans pants rather than at their shoes as he had been taught', 2018. Silver foil ducts in epoxyglass on perspex, 200 x 200 x 60 cm.Dale Frank, 'Danzig Posen Kattowitz Marburg',
2016. Human hair on perspex, 200 x 600 cm.'Liam with 12 percent vision in one eye and 25 percent vision in the other eye says he has the equipment to be two pawn stars', 2020. Pigments in easycast resin, epoxyglass on iridescent perspex, 120 x 120 cmInstallation view, Dale Frank, 55th Art Cologne, Cologne, Germany, 2022.Installation view, Dale Frank, 55th Art Cologne, Cologne, Germany, 2022.*Dale Frank*, installation view, Brunswick, 30 June – 12 August, 2017.Installation view, Dale Frank, Neon Parc Brunswick, 2017.Installation view, ‘Cynthia’s Overies swelled to the size of Grapefruit’, Neon Parc Brunswick, 2023.Installation view, ‘Cynthia’s Overies swelled to the size of Grapefruit’, Neon Parc Brunswick, 2023.Installation view, ‘Cynthia’s Overies swelled to the size of Grapefruit’, Neon Parc Brunswick, 2023.Installation view, ‘Cynthia’s Overies swelled to the size of Grapefruit’, Neon Parc South Yarra, 2023.Installation view, ‘Cynthia’s Overies swelled to the size of Grapefruit’, Neon Parc South Yarra, 2023.
