Rose Frantzen's In the Face of Illusion presents intimate portrayals of individuals in dialogue with optical illusions, suggesting ways we might misperceive others and even ourselves.
Artist Biography:
Rose Frantzen has been a working artist since 1987, exhibiting figurative, representational, and allegorical works in oil and multimedia in galleries across the country, including the Old City Hall Gallery in her hometown, Maquoketa, Iowa. She has had numerous one-woman shows and participated in many group shows throughout the United States. "Portrait of Maquoketa", her project for which she painted 180 portraits of her townspeople was exhibited at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery for eight months. The expanded installation, "Portrait of Maquoketa" - The Dimensional View," has been exhibited at the Iowa State Historical Museum, and twice at the Figge Art Museum, which purchased the collection. The project led to numerous private/public art commissions and portraits, including the official portraits of USDA Secretary Thomas Vilsack and Iowa Gov. Chet Culver. Iowa State University commissioned the "George Washington Carver Mentors a Young Henry A.Wallace" painting, three Dean's portraits, and "Faces of Iowa State," a growing collection of alla prima portraits (now totaling 39) of noted ISU students, professors, and alumni.
She is twice a winner in the International Portrait Competition of the Portrait Society of America, awarded 5th and 4th place and was the international winner of the 2016 People?s Choice Award. Her work is in public, corporate, and private collections nationally and internationally. She is a much sought-after teacher of portraiture and figure painting, demonstrator, and panelist/lecturer in every region of the U.S.