Frank Pannier was born in Tampa, Florida on June 17, 1946. He grew up in Brazil and Argentina, and attended American schools while his father was working overseas. From the time he could hold a pencil, he began drawing. These early efforts were done in crayon, watercolor and China ink. Many still exist today. At the age of 16, he moved to Chicago to live with his grandparents and uncle Herbert Pannier (1921-1983). He studied art at the University of Illinois Chicago Circle campus.
Dedicating his life to creating abstract art, he had 60 exhibitions in Chicago. The last one was twenty years ago. Large diamond-shaped canvases, painted concurrently, in a series devoted to one subject matter, are typical of his art. Often the subject was Chicago architecture, or encompassed architectural elements in the structure of the paintings.
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 Frank Pannier - 1968
University of Illinois
Photo by Diane Pronites
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Some of his series were dedicated to artists and friends who had died young. A series could encompass up to a dozen canvases of similar shape, technique and color palette. His technique, denoted by layering a myriad of colors of acrylic paint, rendered his art three dimensional. Pannier also stretched canvas over wood blocks giving it depth, and making it structurally similar to architectural design. Besides architecture - Hollywood, World War II, astronomy, friends and family were frequent themes.
In the early 1970's, Pannier frequently exhibited with Carol Diehl, Tony Giliberto, Corey Postiglione and Mary Jo Marks at the Nancy Lurie, Jan Cicero, and University of Chicago Galleries, as well as Mid Continental Plaza. In a letter to the editor (New Art Examiner, November 1975), this group labeled themselves Artists Anonymous" in order to combat a growing tendency to call us the 'Little' or 'Younger' Five (fond as we are of The Five, most of us are over 30 and resent being called the 'little' or 'younger' anything)."
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