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 Last works

Throughout his career David Frumer was inspired by various scientific disciplines, from paleontology to biology.  In the last two years of his life, he developed a particular interest in the artistic possibilities of computer technology.  He was concerned more with the concept of computers than with their actual function.  Having never owned a computer himself, his understanding of the subject matter was literal, even simplistic.  Yet this perspective lent his works the direct and elemental quality that is the source of their power.

            Frumer’s literal approach is especially pronounced in his references to “Microsoft Windows.” He conceived of the ubiquitous operating system as an actual window through which the landscape is observed.   In all of the works in this series, he painted the edges of the canvas to resemble the gray frame of a computer screen.  His name appears on the frame, not as a traditional signature, but as a “manufacturer’s” logo.  Within this frame he painted a series of landscapes.  Like actual desktop backgrounds, these landscapes are peppered with icons. 

            The landscapes themselves depict the pastoral Sharon region of Frumer’s childhood: flowering cotton branches, olive trees at night, rows of Cyprus trees pointing to the sky.  In contrast with his earlier landscape paintings, their colors are often not realistic.  Rather, they seem to comment on the wide range of possibilities offered by computers, through which a simple “mouse click” can render the sky yellow or pink, the earth purple, the trees an ultramarine as pure as if it were squeezed straight from the tube.

            Frumer’s color scheme also creates tension between his dual subjects: the pastoral landscape and modern technology.  This tension is amplified by the disruptive effect of the icons superimposed on the landscapes.

            The computer windows series is not complete.  David Frumer passed away at the early age of fifty-six.  There is no way to know where the series might have ultimately led.  Still, even as it stands, the series appears to have brought his creative life full circle.  It deals with many of the conflicting themes that intrigued him throughout his life: the abstract versus the concrete, the real versus the conceptual, and the technological versus the artistic.  But most saliently, the painting reflect an intimate connection to the landscape where was born and raised, where he developed into an artist, and where he was brought to his final rest.  His grave in the cemetery of Kibbutz Ramat-Hacovesh, in the heart of the Sharon, is surrounded by the features of his final paintings: orange groves, Cyprus trees, red hills of clay.

Hai Knafo                                                                                                                                

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