Frank Watkins

Frank was born in 1951 in Glanaman, South Wales. From 1970 to 1973 he studied graphic design at Newport College of Art, and from 1973 to 1974 Fine Art at Cardiff College of Art. He has his studio in Margam; influence: Morandi, Beuys, Dubuffet. A permanent collection of his work can be viewed by appointment at a private gallery:
41 Plasturton Gardens, Cardiff, oriel@extra-ibs.com)

Artist's Statement: "I read somewhere that one should approach certain artist's work as one would a magician's illusion. We are prepared to accept that he tricks us but we do not want to know how, since this would spoil the illusion. We want to, or are prepared to believe in the magic, the mysterious, the artist's sleight of hand, and the realms into which we are taken. In the same respect I would hope that my works remain puzzling, but that one approaches it openly and be prepared to give it time.
If my work is about anything it's about me: my inner life. It is not the way I see the world because I dont't look at the world for inspiration. It is also to do with the circumstance I find myself in.

The pieces of text attached to some of my works may act as clues to aid the interpretation, as titles do, or may be considered an adjunct to the painting, as colour or drawing or abstract markings. I would hope that given time, one might begin to interpret for oneself certain feelings, perhaps of calmness, maybe unease or simply make one think." (quoted from the exhibition catalogue Deconstruction Reconstruction, 1998)

Frank works by meticulously creating abstract forms which appear organic in nature and which are, in their original form, found objects. He then arranges them in a manner sometimes reminiscent of those displays made by Victorian collectors of natural objects. His drawings and collages play with abstract concepts, exploring the spaces between meaning and content.

Teaching Experience: 1974-98 at various schools.

Awards: 1976/7 Welsh Arts Council's Leslie Moore Award; 1986 Elephant Trust scholarship to work at the Miro Foundation in Barcelona and to visit Antoni Tapies in Campins/Spain; 1991 recipient of the Pollock Krasner Foundation Award New York; 2002 winner of the Confrey Purchase Prize at the Wales Drawing Biennale.

Permanent Collections: Penrose Collection London; Elephant Trust Collection London; Contemporary Arts Society London; Samuel Beckett Archive, University of Reading; Oriel@41 Cardiff.

International Links:
exhibitions abroad=1993 Eleonore Austerer Gallery, San Francisco

academia abroad=1984 Arts Council of Wales scholarship to work at the Miro Foundation in Barcelona and visiting Antoni Tapies in Campins; 1991 Pollock-Krasner Foundation New York/USA.