Untitled #9

Highly regarded for her sculptural work, Frank instills a similar physicality in her equally powerful two-dimensional art. She works primarily in terracotta, a preoccupation suggested here in the earth-tone palette and use of wash effects on the figure's legs that suggest the feel of damp clay. The fragmented figure is a recurring theme in Frank's work and, like much of her art, this piece is ambiguous in its expressive content, simultaneously sensual and spiritual, calming and disturbing. The figure's pose, which emphasizes the legs, breasts, and head thrust back, could be one of repose or suffering. It evokes such primal imagery as prehistoric earth-goddess carvings and the victims of the ancient eruption of Mount Vesuvius in Pompeii.