Archie Franks’ vivid and gestural painting combines an abstract treatment of pigment, texture and a heightened use of colour with dramatic and dynamic line. Within this approach, Franks connects his practice to the realm of the imaginary and dream world: “Memory, decadence and a dream like unreality are core recurring themes in the work, as is a touch of humour and a touch of the gothic.”

In compressed yet energetic works, there is a luxurious heaviness in the application of paint, and the mark of the artist is visible. Landscapes and still life subjects are imbued with a magical sense of animism. This sensibility is something Franks shares with the work of School of Paris painter Chaim Soutine, particularly in the talent for constructing spaces of ordinary subjects with an intensity of feeling and expression. 

Like Soutine, Franks’ work while resolutely of his time has an important connection to the study of old masters. The artist points to the work of Caravaggio, in particular Still Life with Baskets of Fruit, noting his fascination with the way in which the basket seems to fall out of the painting into the viewer’s space. 

Beyond such masterly physicality, Franks also notes another formative historic work with an unexpectedly different style ⎯ that of Fragonard’s Le Petite Parc. In this piece, it is the almost mystical atmosphere that influences Franks, a sensibility he wishes to evoke in his work: “My artistic vision is to create works that are at once instantly compelling and yet hold your attention, that go deeper than their initial source image. I want to immerse the viewer within a particular kind of British consumer and leisure culture whilst also alluding to painting history and a particular lineage of painters.” 

Throughout the history of art, the genres of landscape and still life painting have held a central role as sites for artistic experimentation. Franks’ work expresses this tradition and his visionary and skilful admixture of contemporary details, popular culture motifs, historic canons, the mundane and the painterly translate into a powerful body of work that has an alluring sense of physicality and otherworldliness.

Rosa JH Berland

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BIOGRAPHY

Selected Exhibitions

‘Wells art contemporary’ Wells 2022

‘We are such stuff as dreams are made on’ The cello factory (with Aleph contemporary), London 2021

‘The stifled cry’ Aleph contemporary (online) 2021

‘The End’ Charlton gallery, London 2020

‘Picture palace’ Transition gallery London 2020

‘MK Calling’ MK gallery Milton Keynes 2020

‘Wells art contemporary’ Wells 2019

‘Creekside open 2019-selected by Sacha Craddock’ APT Gallery London 2019

‘Creekside open 2019-selected by Brian Griffiths’ APT Gallery London 2019

‘Night Plinths’ Narrative Projects London 2018

‘Lynn Painter stainers prize’ Mall Galleries London 2018

‘Disintegration’ (solo) Salon London 2017

‘Dumb’ Mercer Chance London 2017

‘Spazi Aperti’ Edicola Radetzky Milan 2017

‘Jerwood Painting Fellowship show’ Jerwood Space, London (touring to Arts University Bournemouth, Cardiff Bay Arts 2016 and Norwich University 2017) 2016

‘Europa’ Transition gallery, London 2016

‘Carnival Glass’ Block 336, London 2015

’P’ Horatio Junior, London 2015

‘The Names’ Transition gallery at Sluice art fair, London 2015

’Creekside open’ selected by Richard Deacon, A.P.T Gallery, London 2015 

‘Nightmares and dreamscapes’ (solo show) Welcome Screen, London 2015

‘Roman Remains’ Transition Gallery, London 2015 

‘A union of voices’ Horatio Junior, London 2014

‘Mr & Mrs Andrews’ Transition Gallery, London 2014 

‘Elsewhere’ Riss(E) Varese, Italy 2014

‘June Mostra’ The British School at Rome, Rome, Italy

‘Spazi Aperti’ The Romanian Academy in Rome, Rome, Italy 2014

‘March Mostra’ The British School at Rome, Rome, Italy 2014

‘Crash Open Salon’ Charlie Dutton Gallery 2013-14

‘Friday 13th’ The British School at Rome, Rome, Italy 2013

‘Bloomberg New Contemporaries’  ICA London 2013-14

‘Bloomberg New Contemporaries’ Spike Island, Bristol 2013

‘Hold the Fort!’ Fort Gallery, London 2013

‘Original/Copy 3’ Peles Empire, Cluj, Romania 2012

‘Original/Copy 2’ Peles Empire, London 2012

‘Artworks Open’ Barbican Arts Group, London 2012

Royal Academy Schools Show 2012, Royal Academy of Arts London

Premiums Royal Academy of Arts London 2011

Summer Exhibition Royal Academy of Arts London 2011

Grants/Awards

Jerwood Painting Fellowship 2016

Sainsbury Scholarship in Painting, The British School at Rome 2013

Tooth Award 2012

Gordon Luton Award 2012

Richard Ford Award 2011

Philip T Ribbon Award 2011

Painter stainers award 2009

Philip Connard travel prize 2008

Curation

‘Carnival Glass’ Block 336 London 2015/16

https://www.instagram.com/archie.franks

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