Skip to main content

Tom S. Fricano, California Op/Kinetic Modernist

Tom Salvatore Fricano arrived as a young college instructor at California State University, Northridge in 1963.  His prior work from the late 1950s was mostly abstract.  We are not completely sure, but it appears that with his arrival to California he started to take on a style that is a cross between optical (aka op/kinetic art) and modern mandala art.  Optical art was about using mathematical designs and mandala art is about creating geometric patterns that represent the cosmos symbolically.  In many respects this is so Southern California, his artwork during this period is about radical balance, that perhaps is influenced by traces of Buddhism/Hinduism mandalas establishing the sacred within his art.     


Some might consider Fricano a second or third generation hard-edge abstractionist because of his California artistic influences, and we are not sure if his art prints from this period take on any religious meaning or if this was a later attribution.  Yet there were numerous op artists during this time balancing line, color and geometric shapes and angles in the 1960s.  There was Victor Vasarely in France and Frank Stella in New York, but Fricano was doing something fresh in the Beverly Hills.  He was creating illusions by putting the outer square on a 45 degree angle and then cutting off the tips, almost rounding out the mathematical equation, supporting the theory that he was influenced by mandalas which are  frequently round (illustrated below).  

Image result for Tom S. Fricano
Signed in Pencil - Tom S. Fricano
Approximately 21" X 21"
Edition - 70/120
Touchstone Publishers Ltd., NYC, Original Graphic label on the reverse


In these works, your eye continues to focus on the center, in this case a red square at 45 degrees, followed by right angle squares and more 45 degree angled squares.  From an optical illusionism point, there appears to be at least eleven or twelve squares moving in different directions, creating a grid arrangement.  


Kinetic vibrations to the eye are created by patterning and color gradation.  Dove gray is layered over bright candy apple red and glow orange, creating lines of various tones.  In this regard, he used a variety of devices to provide complexity and heighten illusion - with a depth of field.  


Prior to Fricano arriving in California, he received his BFA from Bradley University (1953) and his MFA from the University of Illinois, Urbana (1956).  He currently is Professor Emeritus at CSU-Northridge.  According to Who, Who in American Art, he was born in Chicago in 1930 and had a stellar career including:  Fulbright scholar, Italy, 1960-1961; Louis Comfort Tiffany grantee, 1965, California State University research grantee, 1968, 69, 71, 74, 78, 79, California State University research grantee, 1988; John S. Guggenheim Memorial fellow, 1969-1970.  

His work is in such locations as the Library of Congress, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Art Institute of Chicago, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Detroit Institute of the Arts, and many University/College collections around the county.  In the 1980s he was represented by the premier Beverly Hills - Louis Newman Galleries.    



Tom Fricano working on a print - Artist and former chair of the department at CSUN and an honorary LAPS Member. 
Photo provided by the Los Angeles Printmaking Society.   







Comments

Popular posts from this blog

MARCEL (Marcella Anderson) Torpedo Factory Artist

Marcella Anderson and/or Marcy Anderson (1946 - 2015) was better known as "MARCEL", a popular serigraph/silkscreen artist, at the Torpedo Factory Art Center in historic Old Town Alexandria, VA. She maintained a gallery and work space at the Torpedo Factory from 1976 to 2015. At the top of the stairs on the 3rd floor was this large light filled studio with a charming blonde woman surrounded by her silkscreens. In the early 80s, her work consisted mostly of water reptiles, fish, birds and environmental scenes. She kept with nature themes during most of her time at the studio. Her obituary stated: "Marcel was known for her bold, yet sensitive, use of color and design. Her images in all media reflected her love of nature. Her glowing color, both intense and delicate, was achieved through the use of transparent layers of color." Marcel was born and raised in Seattle, Washington and studied at the Cornish School of Allied Arts. Before arriving in the DC area, she had

Japanese Wooden Dolls: Kokeshi-Ningyo "こけし-人形"

This article is dedicated to my Japanese (nihongo) Sensei, Atsuko Kuwana, who helped me learn to speak Japanese. Collectors come in all varieties, some plan their collections, others start by chance.  I saw my first kokeshi(こけし) wooden doll in 2005 while participating in a grassroutes exchange program between the U.S. and Japan.  I was staying with a family near Nagoya and the couple’s young daughter had one.  Years later when I was named a Mike Mansfield Fellow from the U.S. government to the Japanese government, and was living in Japan, I would see them frequently at flea markets and souvenir shops next to the natural hot spring resorts in the area known as Tohoku.  Before leaving for Japan, I studied all things Japanese at the George Shultz Foreign Service Institute (FSI), including a professor that covered domestic and family life and some short statements on kokeshi.  After arriving in Japan, the National Personnel Authority ( jinjiin ) was responsible for my continued studies, b

Japanese Dolls - Ichimatsu Doll by Kyugetsu

On the top floor of the Matsuya Department Store in the Ginza shopping district of Tokyo, was a large exhibit space that rotated shows about every two weeks. It was one of my favorite places to visit, as there were fine artists and craftsmen showing their creations with the assistance of the most attentive staff and sales associates. They always exemplified elegance and class. During a drop-by-visit, there was a Ichimatsu doll exhibit. Dolls are dolls, a play thing, until they become an artform. The exhibit was part educational seminar and part wonderment. These Japanese dolls were not produced on a factory floor with production quotas. Each doll was handmade with painstaking details by an artisan that rendered a doll with personality, charm and beauty. The keeper of all knowledge, Wikipedia, describes Ichimatsu dolls this way: the doll represents little girls or boys, correctly proportioned and usually with flesh-colored skin and glass eyes. The original Ichimatsu were named a