Fall 2007 News | See Past News

The hot summer months now behind us, most of Franks summer days were spent in the studio watching baseball and reading photo magazines newest technical advances. His wife Ellie continues to run the gallery on weekends and promoting the art that we have all come to love. I chip in when I find a free minute during the week, but as you can see, I have had little time to dedicate just simply revising the web pages, along with the tedious job repainting the Dark Kingdom statues.

There is a new series of Death Dealer statues about to be released exclusively through the Frazetta Gallery web site and Museum. Sculpted by Steven Lord who did a master rendering on the Dark Kingdom statue for us a few years back. Reel Art Studios has also released a very large and detailed three figure statue of Snow Giants which we now offer in the gallery store signed and numbered. Reel Art Studios has the Egyptian Queen and Death statue coming out shortly. Both Dealer #4. and the Egyptian Queen are in the final stages with the master statues in the Orient awaiting an approval on the paint matching. The original paint master was duplicated to the finest detail by friend Alex Castro who is a resident of the Pocono Mountains. He is a Master Painter in the model and miniature world of figures and statues. His ability to duplicate or paint a three dimensional piece is amazing! This is his profession, and he is at the head of the class. So if you ever need a sculpture touched up or transformed from a blank model kit, he will make it come to life with his understanding of miniature painting. He did the Dark Kingdom statue at a later date when I was having problems trying to get someone deal with the Orient. His work is all over the web and numerous clients wanted my finished Dark Kingdom statue to look exactly like his. Well, so did I, but it is a $1,500 + paint job and 40 to 50 hours minimum in just priming and painting. Anyone in need or if you prefer to have your items painted by a professional miniature artist, he is the one to call. Feel free to give Alex a call. He is listed in the Pocono Mountains directory. {570-421-2012}. Cell # 570-807-0856 , web address is Alexcastro.com.

Just to clarify the term stating “My New”, When I use this term, “My New Statue“, this simply means my father and I were involved with overseeing the work from start to finish, other than the image being licensed out to another company or individual. We will be offering the / “MY” Death Dealer statue in a variety of color and mountings. Initially for the holiday season, it will be bronze color adhered to a hardwood base. The 1st run will is initialed and numbered to 1,000 for approx, $279.00. One thing that separates this from other resin statues is production will be exclusively U.S.A. made. That means sculpting, casting, painting and assembly. Other than extremely high priced bronze statues, no one does this to my knowledge. Now, this will also affect the final price, but after the last two to three year venture and heart break with Dark Kingdom, I will not chance loosing what little reputation I have left with this one. The worst part of this whole or-deal is the revised statues returned to the customer were beautifully painted with a loose free flowing style as with my fathers artwork along with each approved by him before shipped, but some fans were not thrilled over the new look. There was such a long time period from you to me and then back, most had forgotten just how poorly the resin statues were colored and over sprayed with pink and red tones. I had a premonition this may be a future issue. So as suspected,/anticipated/foreseen/assumed/ hoped not, the other day a fan,/Rosie, a very dear friend and fan, personally returned the statue to me at the shop. I showed her the newly revised version and as stated just a few short sentences back, she was not overly thrilled by the expression on her face. I opened the original boxed piece with the flawed paint, stood them side by side and suddenly the expression on her face changed. Now with both statues side by side, the comparisons could be made fairly. As expected, they were astonishingly different and thank goodness in my favor. Just the colors and tones of the warriors flesh were enough to make it worth the long wait. I cannot thank you enough for your patience, understanding and most of all the loyalty devoted to my fathers art. The majority of the buyers were pushed to the limit in various ways, while my patience and sanity tested far beyond my pick-it fence.

The 2nd statue, different edition, will be upgraded with an ornate style hardwood base along with inserting a set of gem stone rubies for his eyes. This will also be finished in the bronze tone paint but each will be personally signed and numbered by my father. A custom pewter medallion will be recessed on the top signifying the number of the 500 statue edition. With only 500 statues cast in this small edition, they will be sure to sell through quickly and become a very sought after Frazetta collectable in the near future. We anticipate the retail about $399 +.

The 3rd of this 3 part series will be the commemorative edition consisting of a full color hand painted statue mounted on the marble base will also portrait ruby gem stone eyes and a gold plated medallion authenticating its number in the edition. The very rare gold sealed Death Dealer comic book will be mounted on the top along with the statue. Aside this will contain a small oak peg also sticking out of the base, with a gold Death Dealer ring slid over it as its ring guard. It will be custom sized to your finger size and will always be part of this unique design and Death Dealer commemorative for you to display and enjoy if you decide to wear the ring out for the evening or any occasion. Only 150 will be cast on a custom order basis only, and one that will be enjoyed and envied by all friends and family members of only 150 statues. Each Death Dealer statue will be hand painted. Death Dealer mounted on a Italian marble base in a 250 offering and a ruby gem stone very limited quantity with a marble base, silver or gold Death Dealer ring and the limited sealed Death Dealer comic mounted on the base. I hope to have some photos shortly for you to view.

Two new books produced by Arnie Fenner are in production, one based on comic art and the other on rough to to finished art. We will be offering them on our site shortly. The small rough book signed and numbered in a leather sleeve along with a very special limited quantity Remarque and colored. There are a limited number of copies that Frank will Remarque the inside cover with the Saber tooth tiger. He will actually pen in a background and other small details to the existing saber tooth pen and ink drawing along with a little color highlighting where necessary. This will be a unique collectors item and the first production piece made available to the public that Frank did with his left hand. This will be a very limited quantity of 125 signed and numbered. They will be initially offered for $895.00. I will be shipping the first copies by mid December. We are taking pre-orders on line in the gallery store at this time.

Now with the children back in school, Frank gets to see his grandchildren on a regular basis. A classic game of checkers is one of the favorites amongst the grandchildren. For hours on end they battle each other until he finally says, “time for a break kids“, which is not taken lightly. They all love grandpa equally , but with their daily visit comes a special treat, Grandpa’s giant candy bowl. This basketball sized crystal bowl is literally overflowing with chocolate, gummies and caramels that would make anyone become an instant connoisseur of sweets. So they give grandpa a big hug and kiss good-bye and proceed out the back door and venture home. Just another wonderful afternoon at grandpa’s house.

The museum is extremely busy this year and Mrs. Frazetta continues to do a fabulous job displaying new art and being a wonderful hostess to greet and help all the patrons whom visit over the course of the year. Although the gallery is open only on Saturday and Sundays from 11am to 4 pm, It is a grueling task to keep the museum looking beautiful both inside and out. The Museum will be closing on the weekend before Christmas, so whatever day Christmas lands on that prior weekend it will not be open until May of 2008. Mrs. Frazetta periodically changes the art and does a professional job decorating the interior of the museum. The grounds around the museum are always maintained like Augusta National Golf Course with a siren setting that only compliments the beautiful gallery. With a small lake at the base of the mountain side that is stocked with both large and small mouth bass, the kids will fish the entire year until the ice freezes over. We have caught some up to 7 pounds since we last dredged the lake in 1998. It has depths from 3 feet to 12 feet and is a wonderful ecological breeding place for young fish and salamanders. Although Mr. Frazetta seldom fishes or takes interest in this slow moving sport, he has caught a fair share of large fish for the little time spent with a pole in the water. I remember in 1977, I caught one of the largest Crappies according to a local sports shop. Around 16 inches long and 7-8 inches deep when measured by a local taxidermist. I had it mounted and showed my father when I got it back a few months later. He was overly excited by the fish and quickly stated he could catch a larger one the first chance he gets the urge to throw the line into the water. Well, I made him aware that this was no ordinary rock bass/ crappie. This was almost a state record I informed him. Well, once again he said next time I decide to go out and fishy I be sure to bring in a record fish for you.” So I took him up on his promise and ran out to the shed and took out the same pole and lure that I caught the other large fish with. We both chuckled at the challenge my father had made and one that he will have to make a case for. Like everything my father has done in his life that he had the power or destiny of, he cast the lure into the lake for a few minutes until he got his first large bite. The rod tip quickly bent over to the water as the fish took the lure from side to side. Within a minute the fish was almost landed as it came close to the waters edge and the large dorsal fin became apparent in the shallow water. To my disbelief, a crappie even larger than the one I had caught just a few short weeks ago was about to be pulled out of the lake by a guy who spends five minutes a year with a fishing pole in his hand. As he lifts the rods end up and swings the fish over to the tackle box, he starts laughing at me like it was no big deal. He just caught which later we found out was a state record fish of its kind. But due to a private lake law, it cannot be documented or excepted as a record due to stipulations that private lakes can and have been known to feed fish numerous growth based pellets to enhance the size of the breed. Regardless of that, this fish was not on steroids from our lake and it did exceed the weight and length of the recorded state record that was on file. It was over 18 inches long and 2 and ¾ pounds. Not to mention my father said don’t ever challenge me unless you want to lose buster. This was something I learned at a young age growing up with my father. If it could be done, he could do it. Never bet against him unless you could afford to lose your shirt. Whether it was something that could be done or something that did not seem humanly possible, my father did it! I’m not just making this stuff up to make him out to be immortal, but I know if he put his mind out to accomplish something regardless of what it was, he did it. He had another gear or two between his ears that only few athletes in the world could duplicate. Even when he was producing the Film with Ralph Bakshi, Fire and Ice, he literally did stunts for certain scenes in the film that the professional Hollywood stuntmen said could not be done. One was Sylvestor Stallones body guard. I the opening scene when Larn was being chased by sub-humans, my father stood in for the stunt-man who had a spear thrown into his chest, and slowly fell down to his knees and leaned back grasping at the spear protruding from his chest and fell to the ground rolling back over to his death. Even at the age of 79, I respect him for who he is and what he represents as a father and individual. His memory is sharp as a tack along with his uncanny ability to foresee things in the future. He is like an encyclopedia with esp. Since the strokes, the only thing he has any problem with is saying exactly what he wants at certain times. But this is common with stroke victims‘. He is still wonderful to talk to and spend hours with every chance I get. But with all my daily deeds I don’t get to spend as much time with him as a wish to. I’m very sorry for the long delay between web updates, but this was a very hectic summer working the store with little outside help and repainting over 75 statues in the few spare hours I had during the week. Anyone interested in the bronze finish on their statue which has not been returned as yet, feel free to call me at the golf shop. 570-424-5833.

Once again,
Thank you for visiting with us,
Frank Frazetta JR