Everything is bathed in light
The paintings that pile up in his workshop produce a rich expression of earth colors, ochre, carmine, iris, amber, sable. Superimposed on all the canvases are layers and layers of varnish that bring immeasurable depth to his landscapes, trees, and the faces that fill his work. Within each painting, the underlying dream is easily perceived beneath the reality he depicts and vice versa.
He combines strength and gentleness, air and earth, solid and ethereal. This juxtaposition allows Frank Milo to cast the observer into a world of duality but also into a world of complementarities. You may suddenly feel a momentary gust of cold in one of his paintings, but within a few moments, you are plunged into the heat of a blazing summer sky, all of which allows you to experience the immensity of space as well as the freedom which is offered under the same sky a few seconds later.
With Frank Milo, nothing is ever completely black. However, nothing is completely white either, for illumination is everything in Frank Milo's work: all is based in light. Consider the faces that fill an entire canvas with their amply nourished forms, their penetrating gaze, their aura of mystery (Défense du moi, Perception du moi) or scrutinize the sparse landscapes that lie beneath the immensity of the firmament (Lueur, Buim, Neblinando), to understand how the artist loves to juxtapose opposites. And in his works, opposites perfectly attract one another.
Like Paul Balmer, Frank Milo began his career as a painter after pursuing serious studies in architecture. From this primary discipline, he learned the importance of respecting equality, equilibrium and balance, which soon became his artistic signature. Like Balmer, he opts to conjugate two very distinct yet compatible fields. Again like Balmer, his extensive travel to foreign lands has increased his capacity to create panoramas. ''When I paint, I am transported in my mind. I continually remember my travels, both the ones I have completed and the ones I hope to undertake. Africa, Europe, Latin America, I walk in harmony with the rising sun.''
It is thus that he went from the drawing table to the sketching table (''I never studied painting formally. I have always worked on flat surfaces, on a table. It is the same technique I use today''). Milo always strives to capture his own inner movement on the canvas, particularly the movement for which he has always had a sense of regret because of his lack of time to capture it, particularly when he was working in architecture or in Web design, another field in which he left his stamp in the past. Painting has allowed him to overcome the lack of time and to render movement through all its essence. This is clearly seen in the heavy skies, in the dense foliage, or in rocky soils. It is also seen in the landscape intersections, which immerge from the canvas after they have been carefully split in two.
In echo of the famous statement by Matisse who said ''when I introduce a green, this does not mean grass; when I use blue, this does not mean the sky'', Frank Milo feels free to use his pallet according to his instinct and pays little attention to conventions. The ground is full of violets and the skies are colored with the zebra hues of sable and turquoise. However, when fauvism becomes too aggressive, Milo spontaneously rejects any notion of asperity, aggression or rebellion.
His quest does not begin in pain, sorrow or existential ''angst''. Frank Milo finds his inspiration in serenity, ecstasy and plenitude. His state of being is transparent in every one of his works: he uses fiery pigments, lively brush strokes and generous applications of epoxy. ''I had my years of torment and struggle when I was younger. Painting coincides with the beginning of a period in which I have felt the very best in my life. I often thought that in order to be a ''true'' artist, you had to suffer great anxiety. But as I began to understand that people appreciate the same calm and force of tranquility that I myself experience when I create, I decided to go against the main stream and to continue with the same positive energy.''
What message is truly hidden beneath the paintings of Frank Milo? The promises of faraway lands, of unexplored horizons and the echoes of familiar symbols and well known landscapes. In this perspective, the tree occupies an essential space. It is the solid pillar within a disparate world and serves as an anchor within the work of tangible realities. ''Even if places change, the tree will always remain'' states the artist. ''Even as man relentlessly strives to destroy nature and even as temperatures are in constant evolution, the tree will always remain there, well anchored in the ground. And it is here to stay.''
It goes without saying that in terms of the artistic landscape, Frank Milo is also here to stay.
* By Natalia Wysocka
EDUCATION
Univertsité Toronto Polytechnique Ryerson, Web Design
Univerté Laval, Histoire de l'architecture
Collège Inter-Dec, Concept de l'espace et design du meuble
INDIVIDUAL EXHIBITIONS
Octobre 2008
Exposition ''De Visu'' à la Galerie MX, Montréal
COLLECTIVE EXHIBITIONS
Décembre 2008
Make-a-Wish Foundation, Galerie MX, Montréal, Canada
Décembre 2007
Galerie MX, 12x12, Montréal (Canada)
Juin 2007
Galerie MX, soirée Rendez-vous, Montréal (Canada)
Mars 2006
Las Olas Fine Arts, Strawberries&Champagne, Fort Lauderdale, Floride (USA)
Mars 2004
Las Olas Fine Arts, Frank Milo and Niko, The Artist Newest Pieces, Fort Lauderdale, Floride (USA)
BOOKS
Frank Milo, "De Visu", Édition Mensi & Rioux, Oct. 2008
CORPORATE COLLECTIONS
Comptoir Claude LeMonde inc., Latuque
Prestige Design, Trois-Rivières
BCP Orphan Production, Bubank
Gowlings Canada Inc., Montréal
ARTICLES
BERNIER, Robert. «Frank Milo: Voir au-delà», Parcours Art et art de vivre, Vol. 14, no 2, Printemps-été 2009, p.77
BÉDARD, Louise-Marie «Frank Milo... L'essentiel», Parcours, vol.12, no 2, Été 2006, p. 36-38
VAN CLEVE, Emily «Luminous Layer of Paint and Light», Focus/Santa Fe, no 2, Août-Septembre 2004, p. 80-81
LE TELLIER, Lisanne Magazin'art, no 3, Printemps 2005, p.171-173
