Ugly Frames

I have been collecting strange and ugly photo frames for a really long time, but I never really knew what to do with them. I just intuitively knew they would come in handy one day.

But they did collect dust on my shelf for a very long time.

Why did I collect them?

My first answer is that I like to follow my gut instinct. If I feel like I will make something with an object one day, I usually keep it.

My second answer is that frames like these are actually hard to come by. In regular stores, I am surrounded by a sea of plain white, black, or wooden frames. Everything is clean, neutral and tasteful. But thrift stores are where the ugly frames go.

A lot of these frames feel like they were never really used. It is as though they sat in storage for a lifetime before eventually being donated to a second-hand shop. They have this strange, forgotten quality to them. They are decorative, awkward, overly ornate, and I have to admit that I do scoff at them sometimes.

"Who the heck is going to use this unironically?"

If that is the thought that enters my mind, I take it home with me.

Am I ironically buying these ugly frames? I don't want to live in a constant state of irony. No, that can't be the case.

If I saw a sad, strange-looking puppy on the side of the road, I would want to love it like every other puppy with a nice home. I think, in some way, I have these feelings towards discarded things. In this case, it is these photo frames that have been thrown out and sent to op shops.

I knew one day these photo frames would come in handy.

When I developed the Zapoverse, I was suddenly filled with inspiration. Now that I finally had a flexible subject matter, I was able to dust these frames off and use them for my art. I am an art supplies hoarder to some extent, and this was one of those moments where I felt a great sense of vindication. I had finally found a use for something I had been aimlessly collecting.

The unique experience of building the Ugly Frames Collection is that the frame comes before the artwork.

The frame inspires the work.

I have previously spoken about incidental art, and how children's drawings have inspired me to paint over them with my own creative input. These frames are also a kind of incidental art. There is already something there for me to respond to. Every frame gives me a sense of direction.

Instead of treating the frame as a neutral border around the artwork, I treat it as part of the artwork itself. The Zapling I draw inside it has to belong to that strange little object. The frame's colour, shape, texture, and personality all influence the character that appears within it.

In this way, the Ugly Frames Collection is about giving new life to objects that have been overlooked. These frames are not clean or elegant in the traditional sense, but that is what makes them interesting. They already carry a little bit of humour and history.

The Zaplings make themselves at home inside them.