Audrey Frank Anastasi
In Easter Flowers we see an introspective woman, created with torn shards of paper, but also torn symbolically. Surrounding her are Catholic references, including the words “Todos estan invitados a reunirse en estedia para orar por la sanacion de todos las afectados por el abuso sexual. . . .” which translates as, “Everyone is invited to meet on this stage to pray for the healing of all those affected by sexual abuse. . . .” The intended narrative of this piece, which needs to be said, is that traditional religion can either provide comfort borne of spiritual love or foster abuse borne of repression and hypocrisy.
Audrey Frank Anastasi is a prolific feminist artist working in painting, drawing, collage, mixed media, and printmaking. Most of her figurative works are painted with her non-dominant left hand.
She has had 20 solo and 200 group shows. Her “ref-u-gee” series will be shown at the Valentine Museum of Art at Medgar Evers College, Brooklyn, in 2020. A full color monograph with over 180 images and a foreword by Phyllis Braff will accompany the exhibition.
Public collections in New York include Trailside Museum & Zoo, Bear Mountain State Park, Our Lady of Angels RC Church, Brooklyn, Valentine Museum of Art, Brooklyn, Munson Williams Proctor Art Institute, Utica, Pfizer Corporation, Avon Corporation, St. Vincent's Hospital Collection, MoMA Photography Archives and, in Brazil, Museum Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo.
Publications include Stations of the Cross, SPQR press, BREUCKELEN magazine, Audrey Frank Anastasi, essay Cindy Nemser, and Collage, essay Giancarlo T. Roma.
All rights reserved. Images are copyright of artist.