Artist Frank Poor’s interest in architecture – and more specifically, the changing southern landscape – began when his childhood home, Woodstock, Georgia, once a small town of approximately 500 people, experienced a boom in the 1970s and 80s. Buildings went up and the town grew to 30,000 residents seemingly overnight. Much of the architecture Poor viewed as meaningful, both personally and culturally, was torn down, replaced by contemporary structures. The rural built environment that had grown organically to reflect local needs was replaced with homogenous structures that bore no relationship to place. In most cases, these new homes and businesses were transitory, characterized by dated construction and cheap building materials. Small towns across the country, particularly in the southeastern United States, can tell tales similar to the one Poor experienced in Woodstock. The plight of these towns is the focus of the two- and three- dimensional mixed media works presented in Cast Shadows.
Read MoreThough originally trained as a sculptor, photography has become the foundation for much of Poor’s recent work. In 2009, when he began his current series, he relied predominantly on found or family photographs. With the exception of Church #1 and Church #2, both from 2010, all of the works Poor creates now incorporate his own photography. The process of shooting photographs is a method by which Poor gathers information – research to aid in his investigations. He notes, “Photographs are bits of evidence;” they are artifacts that suggest a narrative, but only tell part of the story. Poor most incorporates these images, printed on Plexiglas and wood veneers (cherry, knotty pine, birch, etc.), into three-dimensional architectural forms he constructs of basswood. The works range in scale from as small as nine inches to as large as seven feet in height. With the exception of the monumental works, most pieces hang on the wall; placement, scale, and Poor’s techniques combine to elevate these works from models or replicas to works of art.
The series marks Poor’s return to the south after nearly twenty years. Initially motivated by nostalgia, he sought familiar, iconic imagery such as church steeples and family farms, primarily in Georgia, where he was raised, as a way of reconnecting with his past. In 2011, Poor expanded the geographic scope of his project through a pilgrimage to Hale County, Alabama. Hale County is most notable as the locale featured in Let Us Now Praise Famous Men. Published in 1941, the book developed out of a 1936 Fortune magazine assignment in which photographer Walker Evans and writer James Agee documented three white tenant families. Artist William Christenberry, born in Hale County the same year Evans and Agee began their project, embarked on his own exploration of Hale County (through photographs and sculptures), nearly thirty years after the release of Let Us Now Praise Famous Men. Poor represents a third generation of artists interested in revisiting Hale County, affirming the site’s importance in southern cultural discourse. In the Fall of 2012, Poor once again broadened his project through a visit to North Carolina. Though the area does not hold personal significance for the artist, the rural countryside provided a familiar backdrop. Several works presented in Cast Shadows include photographic source material from eastern North Carolina, including Barn on Rte. 97, and Tobacco Barn #2, #3, and #4.
