FRANK A KOESTER

• ARTIST  BIOGRAPHIES

The Message of my work,

To stimulate, to open the eyes of the

Viewer.

The object, to prod the viewer

to take notice,

to kindle interest,

to waken curiosity,

to create the desire to think,

to challenge the viewer to want to know

more.

“Frozen Snap Shot of a society through time”

“Making order out of memory, loss and history “

I am a native of New York and grew up in Bayside Queens. Happily, my artistic inclinations were met with parental encouragement. Joseph Cornell (1903-1972) was an American artist and sculptor, one of the pioneers and most celebrated exponents of assemblage. Joseph lived around the corner from me in Bayside NY(1918) when Joseph was young, way before I was born. (1946) Later he moved about a mile from where he first lived. (1929 on Utopia Parkway)

My mother studied at the same art school. Anna Koester (1908-1975) born in Germany immigrated to America in 1926  Studied Art & Fashion design at Traphagen School of Art New York starting in 1934 when the depression ended. Cornell was a Textile designer at the school and did his first box in 1936. My mother always had Artist friends around when I was young, so I don't remember who was who and what influenced me to do the art that I started in the 70's.  I  carved wood when I was living in SOHO. We had to prove we were artists, to be able to live in a commercial Loft building. Construction wood was found on the City streets, free, portable and CHEAP.  Most of that art was used as firewood for staying warm. No building supplied heat!!! Plus there was no room to store all that large stuff. The only one to survive is the "Frustrated Man"

A good friend of mine gave me the book "Utopia Parkway"

The Life & work of Joseph Cornell 1997

I than could see the influence my mothers friends made, the town I grow up in, the artist friends I worked with which started this assemblage medium driving force that still exists today.

Between 1973 and 1976,  I spearheaded a major exhibit for the Smithsonian Institute’s celebration of the Bicentennial called “A Nation of Nations”. It was during this project that I first approached collage and assemblage as a vehicle for expression. The project culminated in an 80,000 artifact assemblage and the discovery of an exciting medium for me to explore. I realize, that the “day-to-day” tools and mediums that we take for granted are often first developed through an artistic need. My most demanding innovations or “stretches” are made not for the building but to tell the story. These techniques are only later used for more practical purposes. Point in fact, my current assemblages rely on state-of-the-art adhesives that a few years ago were unavailable and that even today are yet to be used to their potential for practical applications. I completed my first series of collages in October of 1991 and have since produced a considerable body of work. Shown below from latest to earliest.