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to contact via e-mail see the above address or go here
Welcome to the home site of Portland, Maine based artist Frank Turek.
My work is primarily in the medium of the boxed assemblage. Commonly referred to as shadow boxes or dioramas, I prefer the term assemblage because it's a more accurate physical description and it refers to an art form rather than a folk form. Shadow boxes are generally a sentimental collection of objects cherished or thought interesting to the owner with usually no eye for composition or cultural significance of the items enclosed. Dioramas are, more technically speaking, a way of depicting a scene usually with miniature figures within a small enclosed scenery space. Many theater stage set designers will construct a dioramas as models for their set ideas. The term assemblage is not as specific as the aforementioned terms, yet it is more closely associated with describing a method of art making. And because my work is almost always constructed within the confines of a rectilinear space, or box, I refer to them as "boxed" assemblages.
From Nov. 2004 to October 2006 I was the owner and curator of ubu studio Art Gallery here in Portland, Maine. I have kept he name of ubu studio for my own private artist studio space but the name ubu studio still locally conjures up memories of several fantastic exhibits that occurred over the gallery's two year run. I have kept an archive of the web pages of those exhibits. (click here) or on the above link to visit the ubu studio Art Gallery archive.
An inside look at ubu studio, 142 High St. suite 323, Portland, Maine.
In November of 2004 as I was considering names for my soon to be art gallery/studio space, I sorted through at least a dozen candidates. I mulled over the implications and repercussions of each choice (much as I do when titling my art work.) I chose ubu for several reasons, not the least of which was the the overall spirit it conjured up in me.
The actual character of Ubu - stupid arrogance, wanton violence and puppet monster - is far from representative of my thoughts and art, but the learned humor that Jarry exercised in creating the character is closer to the mark. I feel closer to the idea of the character of ubu that I imagined Jarry must have felt, considering that he more or less made it emblematic of his play writing. A studied irreverence in combination with a humorous bent can lead beyond parody into a meta-parody as in most of Jarry's writings. Perhaps some hardliners would prefer that ubu represent the loud, obnoxious, bombastic rebellion toward the arts, and my work is too subtle and conservative for them to connect to the idea of ubu. If character need be a direct representation, then perhaps Dr. Faustroll the pataphysician would be more appropriate. But my reaction to this kind of criticism is to find humor in their unconscious self-parody of demanding rules for how to rebel.
So it is the spirit of ubu that drives me, as a similar muse must have driven Jarry to write such work as Commentary and Instructions for the Practical Construction of the Time Machine.
Harvest ( the black queen ), 2006.
assemblage inside a book
by Frank TurekAbout Frank Turek
Frank Turek has actively contributed to the progressive cultural life of Portland, Maine, both as a creator and a presenter, since arriving in 1984. Whether through his own boxed assemblage art work, improvised music performances or curating exhibits, Turek's commitment to the avant-garde and the shock of the New, has consistently brought challenging work to the public eye.
Beginning in the mid-1980s while attending classes at the University of Southern Maine, Turek hosted several radio programs at the university radio station WMPG where he introduced listeners to experimental sounds and musical techniques of contemporary performers and composers. This interest in challenging music evolved into an exploration of the marginalized and derided easy listening music of the 50s and 60s, which came to full bloom with the radio program My Vinyl Recliner. Airing from 1987-1996, the show anticipated a resurgence of interest in this music and cultivated a devoted audience.
Around this time in the late 1980s an interest in surf instrumental music of the sixties and a picking up of the saxophone led Turek to form the Portland, Maine rock band Shutdown 66, which quickly established itself as a staple band on the local music scene. The obscure 60s instrumental songs that Turek uncovered for Shutdown 66's repertoire pre-dated a nationwide re-discovery of this music genre. (Sparked in part by the cult movie Pulp Fiction, released in 1994, and featured surf instrumentals for much of its soundtrack.) The posters and flyers for the Shutdown 66 featuring Turek's signature collage graphics, also gained notoriety and praise.
After Shutdown 66 disbanded, Turek along with the band's drummer Mike Dank, created the visionary novelty band The Clown School Dropouts. Mixing the styles of 1930's novelty jazz with klezmer and circus music motifs, this duo of "avant-schmaltz" music played regularly from 1999 through 2004 in venues ranging rock clubs to art galleries.
Around this time Turek expanded his repertoire of saxophone music when he got together with two locally prominent improvising musicians Frank SanFilippo and Chrys Demos. Together, as Mystic Out-Bop Review, they challenged the norms of the jazz genre, infusing it with experimental techniques and 'punk' energy. Their tight-knit improvisation performances still regularly astonish Portland audiences.
All the while, since 1990, Turek had been monkishly working away at his boxed assemblage artwork. In 2000, a relatively new venue for new artistic ideas, Local 188, offered a show for these assemblage pieces. It was at this show that the Portland art viewing public became widely aware of Turek's artwork. New assemblage showings soon followed at other local galleries.
In the fall of 2004, while scouting out possible new studio spaces, Turek came across the old locksmith shop at 316a Congress. In a perfect match of building-to-person, this Portland architectural icon became ubu studio, a compact art gallery with a studio space in back allowing Turek to continue his dual role of creator and presenter. And as Turek brought his creative ideas to curating exhibits, ubu studio quickly became 'the' gallery in town to see the new fresh faces in the Portland art community. And with connections, fostered over the years, to the avant-music scene, ubu studio also became home to New Music performances by a variety of up and coming east coast musicians and composers.
In October of 2006 ubu studio ceased being a gallery and moved across town to 142 High St. suite 323 and re-formed as Frank Turek's private studio space. Here is where all the new work is being created. Please feel free to call and arrange a visit.
My assemblage work has always been a form of cultural comment or criticism. Using the mass-produced, material artifacts from my surroundings makes sense to me, in a very basic way, to use culture to speak to culture. Much the same as how we use words to talk about language and just as a poet or philosopher would take meticulous care in choosing words to convey ideas, I employ the same discretion in the use of my materials. The playful gestures and absurdities are for me helpful in-roads to thinking. My attempt is to bring to bear our profound nature within the world of our own creation, and what that means and implies. Some of my pieces encompass a specific idea while others approach a greater concept. There is certainly multi-layered meanings to the materials that I use, which may encourage too divergent of ideas. It is my hope however that I can create a focus of the pieces so that it generates a deeper understanding and that viewers will stop, consider and wonder. [from introduction to an exhibit in 2000, revised Jan. 2007] ~ Quick Links ~
Assemblage Prints
Turek Exhibits Reviewed:
September 2005
December 2005
August 2006
