Curtis Frillmann, Grand Rapids, Michigan, fine artist, contemporary art, fine art paintings, environmental art, environmentalist art, recycled art, eco-art, landscapes, illustrated poetry, illuminated poetry, art and poetry, pop art, postcard art

    In this new series of work, I employ salvaged sheet metal to create work that evokes the memory of Chicago's farmland roots on formed remnants of today's industrialized world. I build up surfaces on formally constructed found metal “canvases” to reflect the struggle of savage and urbane forces and to illustrate the influence humankind has over the land.
    The title of the exhibition is “Iron Pastorals”, which simply means, paintings of rural and natural scenes on discarded objects of industry and culture. The title of the series of work was inspired by a book of poetry by almost the same name, “The Iron Pastoral” published in 1947 by Chicago poet John Frederick Nims. Like other writers of the time, Nims observed how Chicago had grown out of the meeting of prairie and lakeshore into a discordant field of buildings and commerce
    I do believe that we have a responsibility to find a balance between our development and the environment. We have sought progress at the expense of the surrounding ecosystems. I am fascinated by how nature also continues to progress, and constantly reclaims what we have built. I use such degraded materials in my work to explore our connection to the environment and the juxtaposition of the modern world with nature.