Words from the Artist
My initial training was at Artstation where I worked with tutors Matthew Browne and Kathryn Stevens while studying life drawing, painting and photography.
So began a journey discovering the joys of painting with light, to capture the elusive and varied qualities of light to convey mood, atmosphere, emotion and understanding.
My first representative paintings were of Santorini and Istanbul, where I was using light to convey the atmosphere of these two very different places - calm versus clamour, simplicity versus grandeur, earthiness versus opulence.
In the Doorways and Transition series, with a limited palette, I moved from depicting atmosphere to using light to convey ephemeral moments, moments which evoke our deepest emotions - looking outwards towards the light as a metaphor for change and hope.
In my latest paintings, there are figures, people who have entered my work as echoes of some distant past. These richly coloured figures emerge from the darkness, glow in their own right, and form their own sense of atmosphere.
Painting intuitively and allowing each figure to develop as it will, have created many surprises and I enjoy the wealth of enigmatic characters that appear in my paintings. Illuminated for a fleeting moment they present themselves to be interpreted however the viewer pleases.
Like all journeys there have been learning curves and discoveries, but along the way I have been surprised, delighted, overwhelmed and still committed to exploring that elusive quality of light.
Photography
Alongside my painting practice I have developed my interest in photography. I am attracted to the spontaneous unguarded moments between people, mirroring the ephemeral qualities of my paintings. I am also drawn to the changing atmospheric qualities of light within landscapes.
Past Exhibitions:
- 2023 Marking Time
- 2021 Eroica
- 2020 The Ley Lines of Home
- 2020 Paris dix-neuf
- 2019 Esoterica
- 2017 Echo II
- 2017 Where Shall We Call Home?
- 2015 Wallace Art Awards
- 2014 Ether - group exhibition at Railway St Studios
- 2013 Who's Who Art International two group exhibitions in Paris
- 2011 Entr'acte - solo exhibition at Satellite Gallery
- 2010 Ephemera – solo exhibition at Satellite Gallery
- 2010 Braveheart art exhibition – inaugural exhibition of invited artists
- 2009 Echo - solo exhibition at Satellite Gallery
- 2009 One Year On - Artfuse, group exhibition at The Depot Artspace
- 2008 Enter - solo exhibition at Satellite Gallery
- 2008 New Works - Artfuse, group exhibition at The Depot Artspace
- 2007 A Painter's Studio - Group exhibition at Artstation
- 2006 Group exhibition at Artstation
Art Links
Tina Frantzen Artwork Books
Buy Artwork books by Tina Frantzen. Preview and learn more about these self-published Fine Art books.
Tina Frantzen on ArtsDiary
A "one-stop-shop" to make it easy to see at a glance what's showing in galleries throughout Auckland
Tina Frantzen on Railway Street Studios
Railway Street Studios is an artist centric space. An art gallery exhibiting New Zealand contemporary fine art, with space for resident artists to work and extend their practice.
Tina Frantzen on The Arts House Trust
The vision of The Arts House Trust is to support, promote and expose New Zealand contemporary artists while providing the wider public with an inimitable cultural and historical resource of contemporary New Zealand art.
Tina Frantzen on Jo Dalgety - Art Blog
Art and art doings by artist Jo Dalgety
Women in Art - Q&A with artist Tina Frantzen
Interview on Railway Street Studios blog by Fiona Cable
My work is in private collections in UK, Australia and New Zealand, including that of the James Wallace Trust.