Abby Franzen-Sheehan’s artwork examines humanity’s enduring relationship with risk, warning, and conscience in a new show opening this weekend.
As a 21-year-old art student in Europe, I was fairly warned by people who said, “Don’t take the night train from Vienna to Prague, it is not safe.”
My friend and I weighed the odds and boarded the train. At the time,
we couldn’t conceive that all the cars were going to be filled with creepy, inebriated men.
Our naïveté and bravado overruled good sense. We did make it to Prague, physically ok, but wholly terrified.
The Spoils | wash on primed paper with graphite and screenprint
Humanity has gambled with risk since the temptation of Eve. Fair warnings as a concept—the chance for humans to change their behavior in the face of danger or ill effects—is a rich mine to quarry. Friends warn of romantic peril, the church of mortal sin, drug companies of possible side effects, politicians of miscast votes, and tyrants of imminent war.
Following centuries of art counseling humanity to pay attention, my work continues to explore this struggle of the conscience.
If you flip the meaning of the word “fair” to suggest all that is beautiful, the warnings become sublime. I embrace both associations.
The collages are a palimpsest of ideas from the 1600s to the present. I collect, digitize, and alter old engravings; illustrations from Edwardian era magazines; texts and frontispieces from books; and random things likewallpaper from my childhood home.
In the Forest | collage, screenprint on paper
I print the digital images (using photographic silkscreen) onto textiles, paper, and paintings that are assembled, sometimes over many years.
The physical nature of the collages purposely situates “women’s work” (sewing, handicrafts) squarely within male-dominated art historical forms
(Abstraction Expressionism, Surrealism, Impressionism, etc.).
The unorthodox stitching, raw edges, use of recycled fabric (kimonos, dishcloths), and costume fabric (tulle, organza) is intentional, to conjure feelings about domestic labor and gendered spaces.
I am not always sure where each piece is headed. The work is unwieldy.
Mr. Yuk | sewn collage, acrylic, oil, and screenprint on canvas
My intention is for the strange juxtapositions to have a chat across time—a magical but real forum contemplating risk, love, human frailty, divine intervention, and a large dollop of unknowing.
The Pittsburgh-area ZYNKA Gallery will present a curated exhibition of Franzen-Sheehan’s latest work, opening February 28 with a reception from 5-8 pm. The exhibit will remain on view through April 12.
