February 2007 News | See Past News

Hello everyone,

Thank you for visiting with us.

Grandpa gets a birthday gift

For the last few months I have been trying to contact everyone who purchased the Dark Kingdom statue by email or phone due to the unacceptable paint job in the Orient. Please return the statues to the address on the outside of the box so I can repaint the statue the way it was intended to look. The finished product was not acceptable by any means and I would like to rectify this as soon as possible. It will take a month or two to get them returned, but they will be done correctly. I cannot explain what happened at the foundry but I promise you the samples my father and I painted for them to use as a guide was not used in final production. The red overspray on different parts of the body only added to my frustration ever time I opened another box for examination. I know this is a common practice with many overseas companies. They forward you an exact match to your master paint sample, you approve it with high regards, then the production line goes on vacation when its time to paint the 250 statues I need. This has happened to me numerous times over the years and the only reason I wasn’t concerned was this foundry came with high regards and had done other Frazetta pieces in the past that were phenomenal. I was informed they did the Ghoul Queen statue a few years back and it was done beautifully. They were very meticulous with and there was no reason for me not to use them. This is my fathers art, his creations, and I’m not about to tarnish it in any way or form by producing an inferior piece. I am still in shock every time I open a new box and see the same terrible paint job. But as pain staking as it was, each and everyone got worse.

I decided to repaint them myself and after a few it was not so bad. Well, but after 20 or 30, things begin to get a bit monotonous. I’m trying to match the original painting with a bronze looking skin and many dark shades through the statue. So please understand each one will be different and each will be a bronze wash effect on the skin with highlights where needed. Below is one of the first statues I finished. I will sign the base of each statue with the date it was completed. So you may see a date a month prior to when you receive it. I want to mail out 10 or 20 at a time without running to the post office every time I complete one. A few of the statues that I got back had the axe broken off where it slides into the hand. All you have to do is push the wire back into the palm of the hand and it will stay secure. I apologize for the inconvenience especially after what we all had to go through just to get the piece delivered. The remaining statues that were not sold in this small edition of 250 will also be repainted. All the wonderful qualities in anatomy were lost with the flat cream paint that was used by the factory, but now you can see why my father chose Steven Lord to reproduce his work once the correct color is applied to the statue. I just hope everyone remembers what the statue looked like when they get this back. I worked very hard to match the original painting and the master statue. Once again, I thank all of you for understanding my position and giving me a chance to make rectify this.

We are about to offer some new original art in the gallery store in the next few days. We will be offering many new Deluxe Masters paintings in the gallery store shortly there-after. All the Deluxe editions can be personalized at no additional fee if you would like. Many are given as gifts, so to make it more sentimental you can have Mr. Frazetta sign it to a specific friend or loved one. They are the closest thing to having the real artwork hanging on your walls. Each has a beautiful ornate frame that brings out the colors of the artwork and with the brush strokes applied to the canvas replica, they truly are beautiful to look at over and over again.
As I stated in Novembers news about making on line purchases of any kind. Please be cautious when buying original art or lithographs on E-bay without knowing who is offering them. If you have any doubts feel free to contact me and I’ll do the best of my ability to confirm its authenticity for you. Everyday there are new counterfeit items of my fathers art being sold on the web. There are numerous lithographs of L. Ron Hubbards that are fraudulent. I think every poster of my fathers on eBay and art.com are all fakes and unauthorized reproductions. You can read Novembers news about what to look for when buying. There are 4 or 5 important signs to detect a fake. Please be careful.

The museum is closed at this time and will reopen the first weekend in May, 2007. It was another wonderful year at the museum with fans visiting from all across the world to give tribute to the artwork my father has done. It never gets old hearing anyone saying how much my fathers art had changed their life. This is why I continue to bring new products and news to everyone interested in his artwork. He just turned 79 years old and continues to amaze me with his outlook on life. Everything has a purpose that he comes in contact with. He continues to draw and loves visiting the local camera shop from time to time. With the new digital age of photography, it makes it easy to buy him a new gift. He now owns about 7 digital cameras ranging from 3.5 pixels to his new Samsung 10 mega pixel camera.

The new Death Dealer comic book will be out shortly along with the Snow Giants statue produced by real art studios. I have the final master of the Death Dealer statue in hand and each will be cast in the USA> by Valient ent. The first edition will be a model kit, unpainted with a few pieces to assemble. They will be around $199.00. By early summer I will have the painted edition available. At this time I don’t know whether I’ll be painting them or professional company in the US.

Below is the first prototype of 10 artist proofs that will be available shortly. They will be painted by my father and available in the gallery store in a few days. With the Death Dealer character being Frazetta’s most prized painting this will be a great collectable in any of the three editions coming soon. With just 10 hand painted by the master and starting with #2/10 and selling in order to 10, this is sure to sell out quickly until the master run becomes available later this spring. Each will come with one of the brushes he used to paint the statue and a certificate of authenticity matching the number of the statue.

We are working on the packaging at this time and hope to have the model kits ready for shipment by mid March.

Once again, I thank you for visiting with us and have a happy and
healthy new year.

Frank Frazetta JR