Check out Scott Froschauer’s Artwork

Today we’d like to introduce you to Scott Froschauer.

Scott, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
I dropped out of art school when I felt like I couldn’t draw as well as the other students. I had a background in Aeronautical Engineering and eventually got my degree in Linguistic De-Construction, but my life was about the film industry, so I came to LA. I’ve made a good career as a Key Grip on various types of shoots. In 2004 I went to Burning Man for the first time and discovered that engineering could be a part of being an artist. I’ve gone most years since then and built large things. This led to offers of fabricating large artworks for artists outside of Burning Man.

Today, I do some large scale fabrication for artists but I’m really focused on my own art. I’m finding a lot of success with my re-contextualized DOT Street Signs. I’ve installed them in cities all over the country, including grants in LA, Glendale and Laguna Beach. Three pieces from that series are currently showing in the “No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man” show at the Renwick Gallery of The Smithsonian in Washington DC. I think that’s an interesting story; Art School Dropout in The Smithsonian…

I also show different bodies of work that I’m really proud of. I have a solo show up in Altadena right now that involves portraits I do on hand poured distressed mirrors. I am also showing works I’ve done on my Gunpowder Printing Press that explore political themes. I feel like I’m just getting started.

We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
A lot of my work is about immediacy. My street signs are designed to have an impact that is very site-specific, in that they look like traditional mechanisms of state control and they elicit a reflexive response in us that has been ingrained our whole lives… but they are not what they appear to be. They are reassuring.

I feel like I go after spaces that our culture doesn’t have systems for. Like self-actualization, like mourning. My gunpowder work is very immediate. The texture, the smell… they elicit the violence, but they also have a beauty. It’s the holding of complexity that our culture is losing touch with.

My Echo Enigma works, the distressed mirrors that I create and make into portraits of complex Americans, they go at the heart of holding complexity and how we are pushing towards a binary dialog of heroes and villains.

What you should know about my artwork is that I say messages that I think I need to hear myself, but I find a way to frame those messages in ways that are broad enough for anyone to connect with. That’s my goal.

What do you think it takes to be successful as an artist?
I used to think that I had to make very large things to be successful. I used to make work to be impressive, but I found that feeling to be fleeting. So lately I’ve been more focused on digging into the moments of mental and emotional discomfort that I feel.. and working to unlock them.

So I think my current definition of success has a lot to do with my own fears and insecurities and how to meet them, and taking that experience and sharing it with others. I feel the most satisfaction when I recognize something that is working on me, shame or addiction, something that I might be using as an avoidance tactic to get away from something I don’t want to think about… when I recognize that in myself and I can pin it down and then express it in an elegant way that other people resonate with. That’s a good feeling. I grow from the experience and maybe someone else does too.

Specifically, I can look at the postings that people put on Instagram for a sign that I have at the top of a hike in Brand Park, Glendale. People talk about how meaningful that sign was to them in a particular moment in their lives. It’s an amazing feeling to be a part of that.

Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
I have three pieces currently showing at The Renwick Gallery of The Smithsonian in DC. I have 20 pieces in parks around Glendale, CA and I’m about to install 6 pieces in Laguna Beach and 5 more in the City of LA, up in the northern end by where I live. I am traveling all over the country installing pieces in sculpture parks and art walks… as a matter of fact, I’m writing this response from a hotel room in Evergreen, Colorado where I’ll be installing two pieces tomorrow. Those are all The Word on The Street signs.

I have a solo show up at ARK Gallery in Altadena that consists of my Echo Enigma portraits and my proposal for a large-scale sculpture called The United Divider. I show with Wallspace Gallery at art fairs around the country.

Some of my Gunpowder Gutenberg pieces will be in a show at the San Diego Art Institute opening next month. I’m taking several signs to Burning Man this year as part of an installation I’ll be doing there.

Obviously, people can find me on Instagram or Twitter to see what I’m currently up to.

People can support my work by connecting me with the Art Committees or Neighborhood Councils or whoever would like to have my art in their community.

Contact Info:

• Address: 10401 Tuxford St, Sun Valley, CA 91352
• Website: scottfroschauer.com
• Phone: 2132165039
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: @sfroschauerart
• Facebook: ScottFroschauerArt
• Twitter: @sfroschauerart

Image Credit:
Roland Martinez, Kristine Schomaker

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