‘Dale Frank: Nobody’s Sweetie’ Illuminates An Abstract Artist’s Life
Image: Dale Frank in action. Source: Umbrella Entertainment
You know a Dale Frank painting when you see it. His use of vibrant colours and utterly abstract sense of geometry have become his trademark as an artist. In Dale Frank: Nobody’s Sweetie, director Jenny Hicks takes an intimate look at the life of this highly influential and eclectic man who became a fixture of the Australian art scene.
One thing that you come to understand about Dale in this documentary is that he’s, perhaps appropriately, rather frank. He rarely minces words, unafraid to call out his assistants or the people making the film what he perceives as stupidity. He explains his huge, regional house with one of the biggest taxidermy collections in the world with a very straight face, and he’s remarkably honest about how money makes the art world tick.
What Dale Frank: Nobody’s Sweetie captures above all else, though, is the insatiable need of an artist to create. The interviews with Dale and other Aussie art icons like Roslyn Oxley are usually interspersed with shots of him working in the present and past, or doing something that will enable him to get back to work as soon as possible. Dale’s clear that taking a break isn’t feasible for him – even as he’s reminded of his own mortality due to a chronic illness.
A look at the life of Dale Frank
The documentary is partly interesting precisely because Dale is self-admittedly anti-social, and you can feel that initial hostility in the beginning of the film. As it goes on though, the layers of Dale begin to peel back as the film tells his entire story; from ambitious boy in the bush to Australian expat in Europe and back again.
Dale opens up a lot more as the film goes on, and paired with interviews from industry veterans it begins to create a larger picture of his personality and life. In the face of a number of startling revelations, Hicks and crew choose not to make a definitive statement about Dale at any point.
It’s hard to call the film neutral – it is a celebration of a revered Australian artist, after all – but it allows the space for discussion about how Dale came to be such a unique personality within the Australian art world.
Dale Frank: Nobody’s Sweetie is perhaps a little on the long side, especially when its final stretch contains some of its most effective filmmaking. Nonetheless, it’s still a thorough investigation into the life of Dale Frank and his unique commitment to the constant creation of art.
★★★
Dale Frank: Nobody’s Sweetie releases in cinemas May 1st.
