Born in London in 1970 and moving to Australia in 1984 Franks and his family initially settled in Parramatta where he was influenced  by the urban street culture in nearby Sydney. In 1998, Franks was accepted into the painting workshop at the Canberra School of Art, where he produced work that reflected the urban environment he grew up in. This exhibition showcases Franks' most current works, documenting his perceptions of technology and the changing world around him.

D&B on me MP3 and GHB on me DTV is a visually striking work. The intersection of hard-edge lines and the use of sprayed colour give the image a cataclysmic overtone. In the case of this work the title alludes to "D&B" referring to the musical genre of drum and bass on an MP3 player and the use of the drug GHB on a digital TV. As a youth Franks experimented with aerosol-applied street art, a technique he has reapplied to his works on canvas. It is the areas where the spray paint blurs and the colour becomes almost unperceivable that engages Franks. While this work was originally conceived in black, with the absence of colour appealing to Franks analytical nature, he is not afraid to experiment with colour. In exploring colour and technology in this work Franks attempts to destabilise the viewer's senses by bombarding the eye with colour shattered with black lines and space.

While trained as a painter, in New Forms Franks also explores the medium of drawing. The works that title the show New Forms 1-30 (See image gallery below)are a series of pencil drawings depicting textured forms that appear three-dimensional, folded into shapes on the paper's surface. The forms can be likened to origami not only visually but also in process. While they have a seemingly random construction, the detail of the rendering illustrates Franks' precision and concentration. Like the careful steps required to form an origami sculpture, the precise lines and careful shading of New Forms 1-30 reveals meticulous planning and thought in their construction. It is the random shape that draws the eye in which, in an attempt to understand, looks closer and realises the complexity within.

 "Top to bottom whole car" is another of Franks' works that references his early interactions with street art. Unlike "D&B on  me  MP3 and GHB on me DTV" which utilises spray techniques, Top to bottom whole car references the graffiti on train carriages.  The work itself is long,  mimicking the shape of a train carriage and Franks has layered a faux text in two lines across the paper which draws the viewer's eye across the work from left to right. His detailed rendering within the outline further encourages the eye to follow the lines across the work. The two sequences have the appearance of just unfolding into their current state, giving a sense of an organic unfurling. In contrast to this seemingly random approach, Franks mimics the outline on the lower edge of the top sequence and upper edge of the bottom sequence. The controlled pencil shading,  highly worked and purposefully placed, draw the eye closer to the detail. Heavily influenced by music, the folds and areas of light and shade are perceived by Franks as a visual, universal language.

The largest work in the show Plastic forest (logged off) appears as more of a visual departure from the careful pencil drawings or the heightened colour of Franks' painted works. As one of his latest works, this crystalline watercolour is more challenging for the eye to read, and the construction of this work is evident in its final visual form. At an early stage in this work, Franks was uncertain as to its final orientation. Should the runs of the pigment, made while the work was pinned to his back fence, defy gravity? This work, more than any other in the show, truly appeared to grow and evolve in the process of making. Like a crystal landscape, the image appears to have grown organically and Franks' initial uncertainty was resolved in the final result which appears so deliberate and confident in its execution.

It is clear that Franks is heavily influenced by technology and its impact on the individual. When discussing works like D&B on  me MP3 and GHB on me DTV, Franks stated 'a lot of it is about what I'm seeing on the TV'. His simple statement reflects Franks' desire to express the world he exists in through his work. Technologies such as television and computers have Transformed the world and how we interact with it, for example, we can now carry huge amounts of music from all corners of the globe on a device no bigger than our own finger and experience this anywhere we choose. With all of this technology to enhance communication, and distribute information Franks' sometimes cool forms remind the viewer that technology is inherently isolating, and once 'logged off' we are disengaged and perhaps alone in a crystalline landscape. These developments in information sharing and accessibility underpin many of Franks' new forms. The titles of Franks' works imply an element of optimism or familiarity in this new world, in contrast to their almost clinical visual appearance.

New Forms, as promised in the title, is an exhibition comprised of new works on paper and canvas by Scott Franks that presents concepts that have been present in his work for some time, but are here explored with more depth and complexity.

Deborah Hill

PhD Candidate, Australian National University