Neon Parc

At Neon Parc South Yarra, a presentation of paintings continues Dale Frank’s longstanding exploration of identity, mortality, and the relationship between physical and psychological worlds through his signature painterly language. Vivid hues expand and collapse across the surfaces in luminous, unpredictable formations. At once intricate and expansive, the works possess a striking physicality that immerses the viewer.

At Neon Parc Brunswick, an expansive installation of sculptures extends these concerns into physical space. ‘Touching’ presents a group of four life-size cast figures of the artist himself, incorporating the perspective of time: one figure at 84 years old, others as if 50 and 60 years old. Each figure occupies a different position within a hospital surgical theatre environment: a chief surgeon, a surgical technician, a nurse, and a patient. Surrounded by contemporary functioning medical equipment, the figures, all Frank, appear caught within a moment of suspended options, function, mortality, and time.

Together, the two exhibitions create a dialogue between body and surface, object and image, stasis and movement. The sculptures occupy physical space as silent, life-size presences, while the paintings offer a more fluid and unstable field in which perception, emotion, and materiality continually shift.