About the Artist

Frank Piatek

1944–2026

Frank Piatek art practice existed outside dominant artistic orders, such as Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art, Minimalism, and Imagism, sidestepping the limitations of such movements regarding real-world forms, illusion, and content. He was known for abstract, illusionistic paintings of intertwined, tubular forms, as well as primal works of sculpture, collage, and installation that explore spirituality, cultural memory, and the creative process. His work hovers between abstraction and figuration, drawing from ancient symbolic forms and alluding to biology, sexuality, the mythic, and the machine. Piatek's work is represented in numerous public collections, including the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts, the C.N. Gorman Museum at the University of California, Davis, the Illinois State Museum, the Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago, the University Club of Chicago, and the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at Washington State University.

Artist: Frank Piatek (1944–2026)

Date of Creation: c. 1960

Medium: Oil on Paper

Subject: Abstract

Dimensions: 19 x 21.25 x 4"

Framed: No