Eccentric, cartoony shapes inhabit Fran Shalom’s paintings and create a playful energy that belies her torturous process of scraping, building, and wiping layer on layer of color. The process transforms the hard edged, simple, vividly colored shapes Shalom begins the painting with, into abstract characters that cavort on the colorful picture plane, obliquely suggesting familiar objects and personalities while staying obstinately non-representational.
Shalom’s playful shapes refer just enough to reality while being just eccentric enough to create a palpable tension. The initial tug of recognition draws the viewer in, but it's Shalom’s intention, decisions and choices that intrigue. Viewers are left to navigate the surface, making connections with the vibrant interplay of colors and forms.
She says, “I am a modernist abstract painter with a pop sensibility and a penchant for improvisation. The shapes reference the human body but are open to interpretation. Animated by bright, cartoony colors and figure/ground relationships, I think of the paintings as ambiguous characters who inhabit my studio keeping me company and often engaging in silent, humorous conversation.”
Fran Shalom has exhibited across the US. including solo shows at the Hunterdon Museum in NJ and the Fogg Art Museum in Cambridge, MA. Her work is included in public collections such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the Rose Art Museum in MA and the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris. She’s received many fellowships and grants, including the Pollack Krasner Foundation Artist Grant, the Mid-Atlantic Individual Artist Fellowship, the New Jersey Individual Artist Grant and residencies with Art Omi and The MacDowell Colony Fellowship. She earned an MFA in Painting at Montclair State University and an MFA in Photography at San Francisco Art Institute. Fran Shalom lives and works in Jersey City, NJ. She is represented by Kathryn Markel Fine Arts with two gallery locations in New York City.