Aleph Contemporary for AccessArt

This is a painting of a bag of sweets from Mr Humbug sweet shop in Greenwich. I love old world sweet shops, and the nostalgia they evoke. The eyeball sweets add a sense of anthropomorphism to the work.

I use imagery from popular culture, leisure and consumer culture and my own everyday and history and mix it in with grand eras of art history, such as the baroque and rococo as well as major 20th century styles. The way I paint is a way to filter through memories and images from the culture that surrounds me and a way to render the familiar strange. It is in part a cathartic activity, dealing with my own history and life whilst also being a reflection on the culture at large and my own generational situation.

Two paintings in particular have been staple points of reference for some time; Caravaggio’s ‘Still life with basket of fruit’ and Fragonard’s ‘Le petite parc’. I love the way the basket in Caravaggio’s painting appears to fall out of the painting and invade your space, modern day advertising seems to do something similar. An advert for Costa or Mcdonalds uses the same tactics Caravaggio did in 1599. I love the atmosphere in Fragonard’s ‘Le petite parc painting, and I’ve tried to incorporate that particular feeling into some of my landscapes and fairground paintings.

A gothic atmosphere permeates the work and although the emphasis from painting to painting alters slightly, memory, decadence, and a dream like unreality are core recurring themes.  

Born in 1986 Archie Franks lives and works in London. He graduated from the Royal Academy Schools in 2012 and has been awarded the Sainsbury Scholarship in Painting 2013 which enabled him to work fully funded in Rome at the British School at Rome for a year, and a Jerwood Painting Fellowship 2016 which consisted of financial support, a mentor scheme and a U.K wide touring show starting at Jerwood Space in London. He has exhibited in numerous group and solo shows both in the U.K and in Europe, including ‘Bloomberg New Contemporaries’ for promising new graduates in 2013 as well as having contributed articles to publications ‘Garageland’ and ‘Arty’. His work has been positively reviewed in ‘Time Out’, ‘Critic’s choice in the Financial Times’, ‘Art Monthly’ ‘This is Tomorrow’ and ‘Fad magazine’ amongst others.

www.archiefranks.com