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

When I work I start with simple landscapes, then I incorporate poems I have written or phrases into the painting. In my most recent work I use bold letter-forms over scenes of recognizable landmarks. I play on advertising with the look of postcards from the ‘30s and ‘40s. There is a Pop Art feel to these pieces. We are surrounded by a melee of commercial images today, and to have my work be influenced by this mass media seems natural. My work is reminiscent of a simpler era when postcards and billboards, as they depicted exciting vacation destinations, more innocently drew people to these locations.   I remember working in Detroit, and often driving past some of the scenes that are part of this exhibition while studying fine art at the University of Michigan. I also use the irony of a retro postcard to question if we could ever return to a world where there is less advertising, less distractions from the natural world and development that threatens the environment.
    My images might be viewed on many levels; one may view the work without discerning the text or feeling the need to understand it, some may feel that the writing broadens their understanding of the work, and others may take a phrase and consider it apart from the painting. These coexisting views demonstrate my aim to unveil layers of our reality. Although we may not fully understand our world, we can acknowledge and celebrate the wonder of how things are so much more than they appear to us, with deeper meaning that is often not completely known.