07 | 08
PHRANC
two thousand
511 west 25th street | new york, ny | 10001 www.cueartfoundation.org
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PHRANC C U E AR T FOUNDAT ION D ECE MBE R
6 – JA N UA R Y 26, 2008
WI T H A PERFORMANCE BY PHR ANC AND ANN MAGNUSON FRIDAY, DECEMBER 7 T H AT 6:30 PM
CUR AT ED BY
ANN MAGNUSON
[foreword] We are honored to host this exhibition, which has been generously curated by Ann Magnuson. Ms. Magnuson, a performance artist, actress, singer and writer, has chosen Phranc, an artist and musician, who lives in Los Angeles, CA. Ms. Magnuson’s appreciation of Phranc’s work demonstrates how the Foundation’s discretionary selection process allows a natural cross-pollination to occur between differing artistic voices. We appreciate that artists, intermittently in their careers, feel compelled to explore and transform their means of expression. We wish to encourage such exploration by showing their work and celebrating their efforts. CUE is pleased to recognize that this is Phranc’s first solo exhibition in New York.
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PHRANC [artist’s statement]
Cardboard and craft paper what a delicious medium. From the time I sat in my first refrigerator box submarine I knew the cardboard sea was for me. I have been creating objects, food, toys, advertisements, shoes and underwear out of “found” cardboard for many years. In 1991, inspired after eating a perfect slice of yellow cake, I started making three-dimensional pieces. I never planned on learning to sew (in fact I failed sewing in school three times). Never thought I’d want to, need to until I had a vision of sewing cardboard! I imagined cardboard clothes not glued but SEWN. I had long ago inherited my Nana’s sewing machine, but hadn’t a clue as to how to use it.
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Upon request, a friend taught me how to thread the machine, wind the bobbin and straight stitch. What you see today is my recent history. I roll out craft paper and paint yards and yards until I have created a “bolt” of “fabric.” I then cut the pattern and sew! What you see today is mostly my recent history. I’ve included some glued cardboard pieces, which chart my evolution. I now share with you my “unseemly” passion; Phranc of California.
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ANN MAGNUSON [curator’s statement]
Things. We love things. We need things. Things tell us who we are. Things make us happy. Phranc makes things. Things that help us see things for the things they really are. People have tried to describe these things. Joseph Campbell talked about masks, Jean Baudrillard of simulacra, Plato about the shadows on the cave wall. Labels. Phranc has a label. “Phranc of California” celebrates the good life —sun, surf, ice cream sandwiches and an endless summer full of fun, fun, fun til Daddy takes the T-bird away. In Phranc’s Cardboard Cobbler’s Workshop new identities can be forged, old archetypes resurrected. Troy Donahue packs the picnic basket; Sandra Dee wears the combat boots. But mostly gender takes a backseat in a spiffy little GTO fueled by modern myths and driven by desire. And because it’s a bicoastal, bipartisan dream-come-true Phranc introduces … The New York Collection! An elegant assemblage of baubles, bangles and bright, shiny designer chocolates, these bitesize bits of luxury porn translate into enduring swank for the ages.
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The ancient Egyptians buried their kings with their things. So did the Maya. The Vikings put their kings and things (along with a virgin or two) on a boat and burned it all. Some modern Chinese have adapted the traditional funeral practice of burning paper money to include the incineration of elaborately crafted objects made from paper and cardboard. Paper clothing, paper cars, paper houses, paper iPods.… Facsimiles of things that the deceased enjoyed in his or her lifetime. Things they loved. Things they needed. Things that defined them as people. People who mattered. People who had things. We want things. We like things. Things are the life jackets we use to rescue ourselves from oblivion. Phranc makes things.
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Red Striped T-Shirt, 2006 Kraft paper, gouache, thread 25˝ x 30˝x 3˝
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Combat Boots, 1999 Cardboard, paper bag, grommets, paint 11˝ x 4˝x 11˝
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Box of Fancy Candy, 2007 Cardboard, gouache, gold acrylic, acetate, cord 4½˝ x 7½˝x 1½˝
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Phranc & Co. Jewelry Boxes, 2007 Cardboard, gouache, shellac 5½˝ x 7˝ x 2˝
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White Dress Shirt, 2006 Kraft paper, acryclic, gouache 28˝ x 38˝x 3˝
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Barbells (80 lbs), 2007 Kraft paper, acryclic, gouache 28˝ x 38˝x 3˝
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Plaid Picnic Pail, 2007 Cardboard, gouache, brads, shellac 11˝ x 14˝x 8˝
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Red Bandana [detail], 1999 Paper bag, gouache 15˝ x 15˝
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Leather Jacket, 1999 Cardboard, spraypaint, gouache, metal snaps 42˝ x 23˝x 10˝
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View of Artist’s Studio
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Red Check Shirt, 2006 Kraft paper, gouache, thread 33˝ x 31˝x 2˝
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Striped Ice Cream Shirt, 2006 Kraft paper, gouache, thread 28˝ x 28˝x 3˝
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Kilt, 1999 Kraft paper, gouache, cardboard 23˝ x 18˝x 13˝
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Roll of Red, White, Yellow and Blue Striped “Fabric” [detail], 2006 Kraft paper, gesso, acrylic, gouache 38˝ x 4 yards
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[biographies]
For more than 25 years, phranc has described herself as “the All-American Jewish Lesbian Folksinger.” As a visual artist she has adopted the moniker “The Cardboard Cobbler.” As a teenager she attended The Feminist Studio Workshop at The Woman’s Building in Los Angeles, CA, where she focused on songwriting and silk-screening. In the late 1970s she was a member of Nervous Gender and Catholic Discipline in the Los Angeles punk rock scene. She has toured internationally with many acclaimed and notorious artists such as The Knitters, The Smiths, The Pogues and Morrissey. Both her music and visual work employ humor to raise consciousness, trigger response, stimulate memories and provoke discussion. Phranc is an artist-in-residence at the 18th Street Arts Center in Santa Monica, CA.
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As the recipient of the 2007 C.O.L.A. Fellowship she is currently writing songs about Los Angeles that will debut in Spring of 2008. She works in Santa Monica, CA where she resides with her partner and two children. The exhibition at CUE Art Foundation marks Phranc’s first solo exhibition in New York.
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ann magnuson
is a Los Angeles-based actress, singer, writer and performance artist who has performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Modern Art, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, The Public Theater and Joe’s Pub in New York City; the Hammer Museum, and REDCAT in California; The Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, MN, The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, PA and in theaters and cabarets around the world. She recently participated in Andrea Zittel’s High. Desert. Test. Site event in Joshua Tree, CA where she lives part-time. Born and raised in Charleston, WV, Magnuson has a BFA in Theater & Cinema from Denison University, Granville, OH and studied theater in London at the British and European Studies Group. She came to New York City in 1978 as an intern at The Ensemble Studio Theater before becoming part of the seminal art, music and performance scene exploding in downtown New York during the 1980s (when she ran the now-infamous neo-Dada cabaret space, Club 57). She performed regularly in downtown theaters, galleries and clubs including The Mudd Club, Danceteria, The Pyramid Club and CBGB and also made several short-form videos, most notably Made for TV which premiered on the PBS show Alive From Off Center and has recently been featured in exhibits about the East Village at the New Museum and New York University’s Grey Art Gallery. She also co-wrote and starred in Vande-
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monium, a surreally-comic special for Cinemax and acted in several independent films including Beth and Scott B’s Vortex and Sara Driver’s Sleepwalk. Her many Hollywood film credits include Making Mr. Right, Clear and Present Danger and Panic Room. She has appeared on numerous TV shows including Frasier, CSI:Miami, The Drew Carey Show and the HBO series From The Earth To The Moon. Off-Broadway credits include The Vagina Monologues and Four Dogs and a Bone as well as her own one-woman shows, You Could Be Home Now and Rave Mom. She also starred in the LA premiere of the David and Amy Sedaris play The Book of Liz. Magnuson has been in numerous bands such as her heavy metal group Vulcan Death Grip and the sardonic folk trio Bleaker Street Incident. She was the lead singer and lyricist for the psycho-psychedelic band Bongwater with whom she released five albums. Her solo album The Luv Show was released on Geffen Records in 1995 and her new CD, Pretty Songs & Ugly Stories, is currently being distributed by Asphodel Records. She has written for magazines as varied as Artforum and Condé Nast Traveler and currently pens a monthly column for Paper magazine and contributes to their blog: www.papermag.com. Visit www.annmagnuson.com for more.
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CUE Art Foundation is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit forum for contemporary art and cultural exchange between artists and the public. We value the astonishing level of creativity that artists provide and the importance of their activity in the social context of the city. CUE provides artists, students, scholars and art professionals resources at many stages of their careers and creative lives. Our programs include exhibitions, studio residencies, publications, professional development seminars, educational outreach, symposia, readings and performances. Since 2002, we have operated from our 4,500 square foot storefront venue in the heart of New York’s Chelsea Arts District. CUE exhibiting artists are chosen by their peers and a rotating group of advisors and curators from across the country. This pluralistic process ensures that CUE consistently offers diverse viewpoints from multiple disciplines of artistic practice. Simply put, we give artists their CUE to take center stage in the challenging world of art.
Cover: Lifejacket, 2006 Kraft paper, acrylic, cardboard, thread 36˝ x 17˝ x 6˝ All artwork © Phranc Catalog design by typeslowly Printed by mar+x myles, inc. using 100% wind generated power on FSC certified paper isbn-13: 978-0-9791843-9-0 isbn-10: 0-9791843-9-8
Board of Directors Gregory Amenoff Theodore S. Berger Patricia Caesar Thomas G. Devine Thomas K.Y. Hsu Brian D. Starer
Advisory Council Gregory Amenoff Bill Berkson William Corbett Michelle Grabner Deborah Kass Kris Kuramitsu Jonathan Lethem Lari Pittman Irving Sandler
Staff Executive Director Jeremy Adams Director of Development Bryan Markovitz Programs Director Beatrice Wolert-Weese Programs Assistant Ryan White Development Assistant Talia Spetter Preparator Drew Lichtenstein
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