FRISCHE INTERVIEW
ISSUE NO.2 — FALL/WINTER 2012
FRANK MAGNOTTA
interview by EMILY RAMSHAW
Looking at a drawing by Frank Magnotta is kind of like experiencing Déjà vu: you know it’s familiar and reminiscent of something that’s already happened or existed, but you can’t quite place what. Magnotta’s large-scale, black-and-white graphite drawings are intricate and almost impossibly detailed in a way that is psychedelic, as in retro, 1960s maaaan. But than that, they are strikingly modern. And with his blatant use of logos that are so a part of our oversaturated consumerist culture you nearly skip over them in the pieces themselves, he is truly making art about what he knows – about what we all know. It is Americana at it’s most honest. – Where did you grow up? What was your path to becoming an artist? Emily
– I grew up in Grand Rapids MI. I always drew as a kid, and my parents would sometimes take us to museums and other things, but I can’t say it was an art-focused upbringing. I did take art classes throughout school and took it seriously. I went to a small liberal arts college called “Hope”. For the first couple of years I was debating between majoring in music, math or art. My level of
Frank
One, 60”x50”, graphite on paper, 2006 8