FRANK PAVKOVIC was, is and always will be remembered as an artist. Born on September 12,1946 in Highland Park, Michigan to Frank and Bess Pavkovic, their son Frank knew from an early age that art was his passion. Like a priest to the priesthood, art was his calling, his lifelong learning pursuit.

While enduring a childhood devoid of parental affection and emotional support, Frank focused his energies on learning, studying the work of Renaissance masters and reading avidly on a variety of subjects including history, philosophy and psychology. Fortun...

FRANK PAVKOVIC was, is and always will be remembered as an artist. Born on September 12,1946 in Highland Park, Michigan to Frank and Bess Pavkovic, their son Frank knew from an early age that art was his passion. Like a priest to the priesthood, art was his calling, his lifelong learning pursuit.

While enduring a childhood devoid of parental affection and emotional support, Frank focused his energies on learning, studying the work of Renaissance masters and reading avidly on a variety of subjects including history, philosophy and psychology. Fortunately, Frank's maternal Grandfather proved to be a saving grace. Grandpa's house became a sanctuary where he was taught to create in the wood shop, with Grandpa counseling ''Train your mind to work your hands and What you put in your mind no one can take away from you.''

While living in Detroit only eight miles from the ''Big Three'' automakers, G.M., Ford and Chrysler, Frank became enamored with drawing all things cars: their fashion, their drama, the newest models, those classic automotive designs with their sweeping, sensuous curves symbolizing the fabulous female form. And the words, the ever-present words. Frank just couldn't stop the words; they simply kept flowing. Of his drawings he often reflected that ''I paint with a pencil.''

When his family relocated, driving their blue and white fifty-nine Chevy station wagon to their new residence in Canoga Park, California, home of the street racing, cruising lifestyle, Frank immediately immersed himself in the flamboyant hot-rod culture of the day. He was a rebel with a cause and ''life was bitchin!''

In the 1970's, Frank moved to Malibu Lake, developing friendships with local artists Richard Lee and Neon Park while becoming a full- fledged artist in his own right with sell- out shows at the Ipanema Art Gallery in Beverly Hills where his drawings and paintings were purchased by actors, musicians, lawyers, and psychiatrists. It was during this time that Richard Lee taught Frank the technique of reverse painting on glass.

Moving back to the San Fernando Valley in the 1980's, Frank worked diligently on private commissions as well as doing advertising and re-branding for Leon's transmission shop in Reseda. Then one day Frank walked to the restaurant across the street for a BLT sandwich and met Gretchen. Fittingly, on their first date they visited the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), and shortly thereafter celebrated their marriage in 1982, remaining inseparable for the next thirty- five years. Honeymooning in Cambria, Frank and Gretchen fell in love with the Central coast's scenic beauty and soon moved to Cambria so that Frank could enjoy its slower ''Renaissance time'' in which to build a more extensive body of work while exhibiting at the Tamara Webster Gallery.

Frank called his paintings ''Thinking Machines'', mental landscapes filled to the brim with psychological images of our exuberant American culture challenging the viewer to think beyond life's superficial perceptions. Meticulously crafted in vibrant, jewel-like Renaissance colors with multiple layers of glazing to create luminosity, his paintings are opulent masterpieces reflecting the remarkable drafting expertise and technical mastery essential for underlying symmetry and balance.

Although surrealistic, subconscious elements are present within his work, Frank was more interested in our waking consciousness, the American psyche, modern culture, advertising, empire and the experience of awe. While defying strict artistic categorization, Frank's style incorporates not only figurative, representational components but also abstract concepts capable of conveying a psychological realism to the viewer.

Believing that ''Art is for thought'', Frank's imaginative, inspiring work remains alive, current yet transcendent, a feast for the eyes and the soul...