diners club magazine
with his large-format oil paintings,
the austrian painter frank glanz creates a deeper image of nature.
he inspires the viewer to feel reality
encounter with reality
“there are many things that go beyond our understanding and that are nonetheless very, very important for human beings. love, for example, we cannot measure, weigh, or see, but that love exists, there is surely no doubt. i dare to approach these seemingly – in both senses of the word – ‘untouchable’ things, both consciously and unconsciously. those who look at my paintings may see that they are there, but they will most certainly feel them.”
for frank glanz, this kind of encounter with reality represents a much deeper form of connection with life than superficial observation could ever achieve. does this come from the fact that the artist was born in 1949 in salzburg, the capital of music, where people have always relied more on feeling than on the tangible? partly, yes. but it also comes from his engagement with the spiritual traditions of world cultures, which frank glanz explored on his many travels.
thus, in his work arose a deeper image of nature, something that photorealism cannot convey, since it merely reflects reality. frank glanz, however, discovers it, even though he “actually” only depicts it. yet in his works – especially those dealing with flora and fauna – there is something so mystical that one cannot help but let the gaze return again and again to the large-format paintings. is there more to see? no, not to see, but to feel. just as music is felt more than heard, provided one is sensitive enough.
frank glanz masters the art of conveying emotions like a true great, and like one of them he paints – in the technique of the old masters. before one of his paintings is finished, months often pass. frank glanz is thus one of the few who take craftsmanship as seriously as content. this was also recognized by the famous surrealist giorgio de chirico, who awarded frank glanz the art prize “premio nazionale per l’arte ed il lavoro” in 1977. the breakthrough was achieved, exhibitions worldwide and acquisitions for important collections almost inevitably followed.
all this, however, did not make frank glanz arrogant, on the contrary: as a seeker, which he is, he always remained humble, knowing that what he depicts is greater than himself, as he tries to grant it a new reality within a limiting frame, through which the original can be understood on a deeper level.
yet frank glanz is not a surrealist, nor can he be assigned to viennese fantastic realism. he resists categorization and surprises again and again – for example with pure compositions like “cardinals” or his cycle on saint sebastian.
what is common to all his works is that they reveal that reality which, although present in reality itself, cannot be grasped at first glance. only when we truly engage with it are we able to discover it – and thus at the same time discover ourselves. and this is precisely what makes the fascination of glanz’s paintings: in them we encounter ourselves, at least that part of us that is too often suppressed – our capacity for understanding.
more about frank glanz at www.frankglanz.com
dcm readers can purchase his paintings with their dc card. the next exhibition will open on june 9, 2004, at 7 pm in the gondolph-zink gallery in sonthofen, allgäu.
📖 article published in «diners club magazine» (german edition), june 2004, no. 6/04, page 42.