Observing The Metamorphosis of Avondale with Frank Joseph Zirbel

Artist-in-Residence, Musician, Philosopher, and Friend

In Orwellian thought, we might see a faded no diving pier symbol while walking along the lakefront and look for a sentiment of doublespeak in its instructions.

Homage to George Orwell – eye for the future.  (2006) (oil on canvas)   Visit this piece more intimately at our inaugural Avondale Community Art Show “Avondalia: A Collection of Our Work Together” this Labor Day weekend at Lost Artists Art Colony Studios, 2630 West Fletcher, Chicago.

Our modern-day collective of strange times filled with heavy interpretation, winding navigation, and twisting technology are in need of this kind of art.  While we dive deeper into the artwork of Avondale artist-in-residence Frank Joseph Zirbel, we soon discover the imagery is much like his music (sample Mental Insect on Spotify) – where a deep frequency of the bass guitar contains a reassuring quality of lightness in those mimicked basslines of his visual artwork.

Walking into Zirbel’s 3034 N. Milwaukee Ave, Studio Z, leaves a rich wonderment of so many stories…and wisdoms….and observant philosophical bends.  A new experience is born for anyone engaging with his artwork for the first time, just like diving into the discovery of a new book that spoke to you while perusing a used bookstore.  In the darker angles of his works, there is an irony of light defined by his unique sense to look deeper into the found articles and objects and remnants of old things, all the while turning them into new imagery that reflects what may possibly be imagined as an abyss.

In ironic tones, the abyss feels crafted by the artist by a healthy and overarching viewpoint, one where humanity can find refuge in things like…..

Art!

Everywhere you look in his studio, the philosophies run deep.

In the artwork series to be shown at the Labor Day weekend/August 30^th show, we are introduced to an equation of famous artists who span centuries of a similar tone under one singular refracted light.  Though always challenged by what biographical or literary devices their life’s work hold, Frank’s interpreted homage to them all is an invitation to talk literature, world art, and reflect on many nuanced, deeper meanings of the mixed media headshots of humanity – past, present, and future.

You may bump into Frank perusing the shelves at the free bookstore Books4Cause devouring treasured literature, or sipping a coffee at Magnifico, or possibly through the windows while he works in his studio.  I enjoy grabbing tacos with my neighbor Frank, as we sit at the counter and watch the artistry of the taquero at work at his station, using careful precision and measured movements as he performs the essential crafts of our Avondale neighborhood.

Frank’s body of work spans decades yet still holds a timeless sense of cool alongside modern reality.  The younger neighbors invite him to dinners and want to make movies about his life.  Who wouldn’t?  I revel with business owner neighbors at Magnifico and Record Breakers on Milwaukee Avenue  - rambling on about Zirbel's band bohemia from 1979 thru the first half of the 80s, wondering how it came to be that underground hidden gem we all feel is something only our few small city blocks discuss so openly and often with our friends. 

Listen to the track “Empty Room” by bohemia, in a video directed by Frank’s friend Dan Dinello who used to head Columbia College’s film department:

Or for something different, explore bohemia’s energetic somersault into a rollicking 1979 rendition of “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”:

He continues to record under the name Mental Insect.   Created under this artistic moniker alluding to Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, Frank’s found footage film composition of “Post Industrial Sex” in the YouTube link below reacts to the world as though it is all at once observing through the lens of some peculiar new existence.  Like that of an insect, or like that of something else?

At any rate, stepping into the artistic ponder of Frank’s paintings, drawing, etchings, sculptural objects, music, film and kaleidoscope of edgy creations is certain to create a second glance at what it means to be at times labeled an “Outsider” artist.

Is he an Outsider artist because, by definition, he had no professional art training?  Or is he his own unique definition of an Outsider artist because he creates outside of any ordinary classification?

Frank, who studied Philosophy in university years, has a way of thinking about the world and its societies that is defined by a sense of composed chaos.  There is a deeper meaning behind the first layer, and you are invited to look further.  This quality is unparalleled among our conversations as we sit in a coffee shop window and watch the neighborhood change and reconstruct as its inhabitants metamorphosize alongside it all.  We have watched Milwaukee Avenue get torn up for the most recent construction project, walking in mounds of gravel for weeks to reach the storefront studio where he conjures up his next ideas.  It’s fun to have a neighbor who knows how much I would appreciate a gift of an underground layer of asphalt and brick from a torn up old avenue in the northwest side of Chicago.  I keep it in my living room, next to a dusty student guitar as it holds up stacks of more books like a bookend excavated from a Chicago archeological dig.

Our neighborhood is a dignified place to house such a great thinker as Frank Joseph Zirbel.  He is a thoughtful friend to many.  We hope you like his art and continue to support the work of this magnificent living artist. 

Stop by his workspace one day.  You never know what you might find.

Studio Z - 3034 North Milwaukee Ave © 2024 f.j.zirbel

See these two featured artworks and more on Labor Day Weekend.