{"data":{"id":"11248","type":"artist","attributes":{"id":11248,"topgoose_id":751,"tms_id":11248,"display_name":"Frances Stark","sort_name":"Stark Frances","display_date":"1967–","begin_date":"1967","end_date":"0","biography":"\u003cp\u003eAn artist and writer, Frances Stark\ndraws inspiration from her professional\nand personal life as well as from literature,\nmusic, and pop culture. Her work is\ninfused with humor and wit, often of a\nself-deprecating variety in which the\npressures of life and making art become\ngenerative subject matter. Mining topics\nboth common and erudite, and often\nincorporating text into her work, Stark has\nfeatured her children and pet cats in\nvideos, created abstract compositions\nutilizing quotations from writers such\nas Robert Musil and Samuel Beckett, and\nparticipated in Internet sex chats that\ndeveloped into the script for an animated\nvideo. Often, the act of production—or, even\nmore so, the hesitancy and procrastination\nthat precedes making—is emphasized\nin her works, becoming a self-referential\nsource of inspiration itself.\n\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eStark’s collage \u003ca href=\"/collection/works/35365\"\u003e\u003cem\u003ePush\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e depicts the\ndoor to the artist’s Los Angeles studio and\na stream of mail passing through it. The\nbarrage of bills, exhibition announcement\ncards, and junk mail—all of which are\nphysically incorporated into the drawing—\nrepresents the outside world interfering\nwith the contemplative space of the artist’s\nwork environment. Rather than letting\nthe mail become another item on her to-do\nlist, Stark turns a tedious chore into a\nwork that directly conflates the competing\nconcerns of art and life. Known for her\nuse of double entendres and wordplay, Stark\nhas titled the work after the ubiquitous\ndoor sign but also as an allusion to the act of\nrefusal.\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;Push\u003c/em\u003e forces the extraneous out of\nthe studio and returns it to the world.\u003c/p\u003e","on_view":false,"artport":false,"biennial":true,"collection":true,"ulan_id":"500294304","wikidata_id":"Q16197269","created_at":"2017-08-30T15:50:04.000-04:00","updated_at":"2026-02-27T07:02:58.598-05:00","links":{"artworks":"/api/artists/11248/artworks","exhibitions":"/api/artists/11248/exhibitions"}}}}