February 2001 | See Past News

Hello Friends:

The date has been set for the most anticipated event of the year. The official Grand opening of the Frazetta Art Museum. Limited tickets are available for this event . Please visit our museum section for details. The date for the reopening of the museum will be Saturday, April 9th. We are looking forward to meeting you at that time. 

Although we are aware of how fast word travels about Franks health, he had suffered from another stroke and pneumonia back in January. With the aid of oxygen treatment he has not only recovered from the stroke, but has gone well beyond what any doctors could have hoped for. 

Frank finishes another gem.

Frank has now begun painting left handed with incredible passion and desire once again. He is taking out unfinished paintings from his closet and literally with no hesitation just bashes them out the way he used to. Below is one he reworked since first published, the woman and the shark and soon to be placed into the art museum. It has now become one of my personal favorites and one that deserves the recognition like many of the others. It is just amazing, not only is he extremely confident, but he also looks ten years younger. One afternoon I walked into his studio and almost fell over when I saw how great he looked. I said, " holy cow pop, you look great ! He replied " I feel great" . It was truly a miracle!

Now that February has come and gone, so has another birthday for Frank. He is now 73 years old and cameras are still one of his favorite pass times. I have taken him to a few different camera shops over the past week even though I can't imagine what he could possibly want to add to his enormous collection. He is just fascinated with the high tech designs and features they have to offer today. I don't have the latest count of his camera collection, but it takes up four huge cabinets each standing over six feet tall. Every time I try to come up with a total I loose count. You normally know when he makes a new purchase because the camera sits on the chair in his studio for a week or so. I haven't singled out any new ones for a while. For his birthday I bought him a 400 page collectors guide to cameras. Just about every camera made since the turn of the century has made it into this wonderful book including their collectable value. As Frank reads through this, on occasion I hear him say, " What are these guys crazy!, this camera isn't worth that much, I can buy that camera for half of that price." Well, I pointed out to my father that these prices reflected cameras that were in top cosmetic and working condition. He didn't seem to care what the books said, but he does enjoy reading it just about every day. 

Reign of Wizardy

Mrs. Frazetta plans on displaying 4 or 5 new oils and many pencil drawings this coming season in the gallery. Some of them are being framed as we speak , but will not be displayed in the gallery until later this summer. Many of the Arcadium pencils are on the list to be displayed and rightfully so. These are among Franks favorite pencils drawings and they are as pleasing to view as his oils. Just about every pencil drawing that I have witnessed him doing, he used his finger to push and smudge the the pencil marks to create those wonderful tones and shadows on his figures. He always spoke to me while drawing, stating time after time, never get tight! "Work with a nervous hand". "Let your hands feel the picture and it will come to life". Easy for him to say. He has a talent that exceeds well beyond most mortal men if not all. There is no second guessing in is mind, he looks at it and just does it. No files, no erasing, just as if he was tracing over a perfect picture.  It is a question that is asked to me countless times. What can you tell me about your technique? What kind of paper or brushes do you use? It's like asking Tiger Woods what kind of balls or clubs do you use? It doesn't have any baring to the average person, both men are gifted with remarkable talent in their own fields, and can accomplish their goals with literally anything. You can become an excellent golfer or artist by working hard for years and years, but I believe you have to be born with that special gift to exceed all others. 

There hasn't been anything exciting going on with the poor weather in the northeast over the past five months. We are still looking for our first spring week and after watching the weather report, there is still no relief insight. We will be offering a few new products in the upcoming season. A Death Dealer stein, a woman's line of clothing and a new book produced by Arnie Fenner called "Testament". We will keep you posted on their release dates.

Frank is looking forward to the upcoming baseball season, and like many others has predicted the Yankees to run away with another pennant. Although he is a die hard Mets fan, he admits they have no chance against this loaded team. " The Yankees have everything". He states time after time, " even when average ball players come to the Yankees they play over their head, there is just something about the history, pride and and pin stripes that make them go crazy when they play there". Back in the 50's and 60's, Frank loved the Brooklyn Dodgers, but still talks about how great Mantle, Maris, and Berra were back in their hay days, but says even those teams were no match for this one.

Thank you, Frank Jr.