FRANK, an LGBTQIA+ collective of 11 artists, will debut their first group exhibition at Ansley Mall on September 14. (Photograph courtesy of FRANK)
FRANK, a brand new collective of Atlanta-based LGBTQIA+ artists, will debut its first exhibition this weekend in Midtown. Occupying the previous Phidippides Operating Sneakers storefront at Ansley Mall, the exhibition will characteristic works by the 11 founding members in Being FRANK: It Is As a result of I Am, which is able to debut from 4 p.m. to eight p.m. on Sunday, September 14.
The collective’s mission is to deliver artists collectively and current their works in a method that challenges societal norms — notably these associated to artwork, tradition, politics, sexuality and gender. 9 of the founding members spoke with ArtsATL to lend insights into their practices and supply a sneak peek of the artists’ favourite works on view on this inaugural exhibition.
David Clifton-Strawn is a photographer who focuses on wonderful artwork portraiture by means of a recent, queer lens. He additionally serves as the chief director of the Atlanta Pictures Group and has works included within the everlasting assortment of the Museum of Modern Artwork of Georgia, in addition to non-public collections. Clifton-Strawn additionally obtained the 2022-23 Metropolis of Atlanta Mayor’s Workplace of Cultural Affairs Rising Artist Award for his pictures.
“One in every of my favourite items of the work I’m displaying on this exhibition is the shut up of the face of drag artist oLvRatl. I really like the colours and the enjoyment and the sudden touches and the way in which it speaks to one of many points from the present tradition wars and is totally unapologetic,” mentioned Clifton-Strawn.
Yousef Bushehri is an artist who explores narrative tales advised by means of constructed environments, largely depicted in watercolors. Initially from Kuwait, at present Bushehri teaches at Kennesaw State College and is a resident artist at Mudfire. He obtained a Ph.D. from Georgia Tech, the place he targeted on constructed environments’ results on incapacity, getting old and well being.
“One of many items within the exhibition is a snapshot of a front room displaying two folks sitting on a sofa. They’re genderless; they’re ageless; their sexuality isn’t clear. Their relationship is imprecise. They could possibly be in a battle. They could possibly be watching TV. Their political opinions aren’t specified. Their nation of origin, or their authorized standing, their pores and skin colour, their major language — none of these items are clear. We make so many assumptions about folks — consciously or subconsciously, whether or not by our personal previous expertise or by the media feeding us,” mentioned Bushehri, who’s within the preconceived notions the viewer would possibly deliver to those undefined figures and the inherent implications of their identities. “On the finish of the day, they’re simply a few folks on the sofa minding their enterprise, so why are so many individuals speaking about what occurs of their dwelling? This piece is part of a sequence — a group of snapshots of on a regular basis life that asks the identical questions and tries to indicate that individuals are simply folks. Queer folks simply need to exist.”
Clint Zeagler is a textile artist who works predominantly with cloth, pure dyes, knits and crafted pure paints and pigments. In his each day life, Zeagler works as a researcher and educational, and his inventive follow affords a welcome, hands-on respite from the technical elements of his profession. By his works, he manifests and reacts to experiences of life as a homosexual man dwelling within the American South.
“My favourite piece proper now can be the biggest piece I’ve made up to now, conjuring a kraken of empathy spell. Once I dyed the material in indigo, a Rorschach fashion lighter spot emerged that jogged my memory of energy and hope lurking underneath the floor,” mentioned Zeagler. “It is a normal theme of my present physique of labor titled sea change, which is about gathering momentum and dealing towards a big tidal push in society that abstractly expresses itself by means of water horizons. This sense of coalescence can be manifested in my involvement in FRANK by constructing neighborhood and pulling collectively.”
Orion Criminal is within the liminal areas between psyche and type, which they discover by means of each their inventive follow in addition to their work as a therapist. The Core’s Lure, Criminal’s ongoing sequence, has been exhibited at native galleries together with Echo Modern, MINT, Dalton Gallery and seven Levels. Criminal additionally based the Therapeutic Artist’s Useful resource, a nonprofit that helps queer, transgender and activists by means of programming and resource-sharing.
“A longtime pal commissioned this piece, impressed by {a photograph} of me taken by our shared pal Royce Soble,” mentioned Criminal. “This tattoo of my first core portray remodeled the way in which I inhabit this imaginal object on the middle of my nervous system — it appears like a brand new organ has grown inside me, a vessel to carry my savorings, catalyze capability and anchor me after I’m dysregulated. In FRANK, every mirrored reflection on this sequence extends that interior resonance outward, inviting the viewer to hint the contours of their very own interior landscapes and witness the alchemy of creatively reclaiming the trauma our our bodies carry.”
Billy Clifton-Strawn, who works underneath the moniker Created in Pixels, is a digital and mixed-media visible artist primarily based in Atlanta. His figurative summary works are composed with pictures, digital portray and considerate composition in such a method as to discover themes of queer visibility, id and spirituality. He has been featured in exhibitions in Atlanta and past and was honored with the 2023-24 Rising Artist Award from the Metropolis of Atlanta Mayor’s Workplace of Cultural Affairs.
“Pentecoste is a 12 toes by 9 toes vibrant tapestry that radiates depth and motion, evoking each fireplace and spirit. Cascading streaks of crimson, magenta and gold descend like flames, whereas turquoise and emerald tones surge upward, creating a robust interaction of descent and ascent, earthly matter assembly transcendent vitality. The composition feels alive, as if ignited from inside, suggesting themes of transformation, renewal and the communal spark of inspiration related to the biblical Pentecost,” mentioned Clifton-Strawn. “I used to be impressed by the story of Pentecost, the place spirit and fireplace descended to awaken unity and empowerment and imaginative and prescient, and I carried that flame into the language of colour and texture and rhythm. I hope that its abstracted, fiery aura makes it each a visible and religious invocation, drawing the viewers into an area the place colour turns into prayer and vitality turns into presence.”
Krista M. Jones, often known as JONESY, is a symbolist artist identified for summary, figurative work and vibrant patterned murals. Themes of freedom, shifting views, life cycles and the connection between interior and outer worlds typically seem in her work. Ethereal and materials, JONESY seeks to course of the human expertise by means of artwork.
“‘The Mystic North’ reimagined is a brand new, large-scale portray featured on this exhibit and a part of my MESO sequence,” mentioned JONESY. “On this physique of labor, I discover the house between micro and macro views by magnifying and distilling parts from present work. By shifting scale (zooming out and in), I can additional summary, refine and reimagine the main points. This follow of revisiting brushstrokes, colour and vitality permits time to deepen the work and increase its potentialities. My figurative abstractions are meant to problem notion and invite viewers to mirror on their very own lived experiences, discovering that means inside abstracted but vaguely acquainted types.”
Andy Jackson is a multidisciplinary artist who works in ceramics, sculpture and video. That includes The Twilight Zone, the Alien film franchise, Star Trek and a large number of tv, movie and literature sci-fi references, his works discover a “semi-kawaii apocalypse,” providing a response to the decaying circumstances of the trendy world that’s each lovely and off-putting. He’s impressed by the ever-changing panorama of movie as seen by means of the lens of short-form video content material typically seen on Instagram reels and TikTok and confronts concepts of what’s artwork within the face of a flooded trade.
“My favourite piece within the exhibit is a video sculpture titled [MYSTIC CRYSTAL] REVELATIONS,” mentioned Jackson. “The sculpture is an outsized assortment of pens and pencils in a cup and a TV mounted on its aspect to function a large smartphone. It’s an ongoing theme in my ideas and video work — the circumstances about an imaginary spaceship, an ark fleeing from a ruined Earth. I’m fascinated by exploring post-apocalyptic themes in my work and remaking and transforming settings and characters.”
Simply Toby, an Atlanta-based photographer, makes use of vibrant colours and dynamic compositions to seize the personalities of celebrities and performers. Acknowledged for work with RuPaul’s Drag Race and the native queer neighborhood, Toby goals to convey the elemental essence of every particular person by means of compelling imagery. He additionally serves because the vice chair of Atlanta Pleasure in addition to the advertising and marketing director of Becoming a member of Hearts.
“Relating to your query about my favourite piece, it’s one impressed by my colleague Austin Younger’s Portrait of Anybody Who Is available in Drag. Ever since he launched it, I imagine in 2016, I’ve wished to create a chunk impressed by it. I haven’t selected a reputation but, however, for me, this piece represents neighborhood, artwork, variety and empowerment. I aimed to create one thing timeless and consultant of the Atlanta queer scene by means of the artists who sat in entrance of my lens and strobe mild, nearly like an archaeological file of the scene from over 10 years,” mentioned Toby. “The second I completed the piece and noticed it full, it was surreal to witness over 10 years of labor with our native entertainers who’re nonetheless right here at present and to recollect and preserve alive the reminiscence of many now we have misplaced who paved the way in which for at present’s entertainers. Austin’s work moved me again then, and I hope this piece strikes folks, makes them curious and permits them to lose themselves every portrait that captures the essence of every artist.”
Kerry Smith, AKA kbyte, is an Atlanta-based artist and software program engineer who makes use of digital and conventional media to analyze expertise, info and type. “Nonetheless Life in an Orange Mild is an older work of mine that stands aside in fashion from the remainder of my items. It reveals an association I created in my studio of assorted smaller works and different significant private results,” mentioned kbyte. “When folks see it, I hope they acknowledge it as an try and seize the disembodied “I” of that second.”
For greater than 30 years, Royce Soble has documented the native LGBTQIA+ neighborhood by means of pictures, portray, drawing and the written phrase. Aiming to not solely seize the personalities and experiences of their neighborhood, additionally they search to ask others to attach with one another and look at the world by means of their perspective in a protected, shared house.
“I’ll have an array of works to exhibit, however showcasing two utterly completely different kinds of my work,” mentioned Soble. “I need to give an instance of the flexibility of my inventive imaginative and prescient — the distinction of daring colourful summary work subsequent to black and white documentary fashion pictures displaying queer pleasure.”
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Isadora Pennington is senior editor of artwork + design and dance. An skilled author and photographer with a deep love for the humanities, Isadora based the Sketchbook e-newsletter with Tough Draft Atlanta in 2022. She can be president of the Avondale Arts Alliance and director of the Avondale Arts Heart.
