Frank Osowski, visual poet, artist bookmaker, mail artist, sculptor, writer and beloved partner of Leonie, and wonderful, warm friend to both Catherine and me, passed away on May 8, 2016. He and Leonie operated as FnL Osowski, and produced many wonderful books/objects/treasures, of which we're lucky enough to have a small pile. I especially remember their wonderful book/object "Almost Stalingrad" which had a number of brilliant photocopy collages in it, as well as a pressed-metal cover that was, in a word (or two), almost lethal. When Catherine first returned to Australia, when we were married, we spent a lot of time with them, and other members of the AXLE group for visual poetry, including a couple of shows at the Footscray Community Art Gallery and Heide Gallery. Always engaging in warm and witty conversation, Frank was a real treasure, and he will be deeply missed. Our sympathies and condolences to Leonie, his partner of many many years.
In memory of Frank, I've been working on a large scale (four movement) piece for iPad. This is definitely a work in progress, but here is the most recent version - this is the second movement, recorded this afternoon, 7 June 2016. I'm using the apps Lemur, Thumbjam, and AltiSpace to make this.
If you can't see the Flash Player above, download the piece HERE.
Here's a picture of FnL from 2008, taken from David Dellafiora's website:
And here's a link to David's website:
http://daviddellafiora.blogspot.com.au/2016/05/francis-osowski-1947-2016-rip.html
Rest in peace, Frank. We miss you.