FRANCO DEFRANCESCA
A native of Toronto, Franco graduated from the Ontario College of Art (now OCAD) in 1990 and returned to the University of Guelph in 2004-05 to further his studies after 12 years working in communication design and the renovation industry. As a multidisciplinary artist since 2004, Franco has been exhibiting art and art projects ranging from sculpture/installation, photography, digital art, and sound art exploring narratives and representations that materialize notions of media, technology, art history, and pop culture.
With his recent “Plasma Gel”, series of digital/mixed media “picture objects”, Franco explores digital media as a mode of abstract image production in the creation of an art object. Investigating the links between art and memory, history and technology, the Plasma Gels series use digital imaging as a means to navigate the territory between photography and painting, mixing references to photography, painting and display technology.
Visualizing ephemeral and elusive environments that allude to a non-delineated, but deep pictorial space, these works recall the colour-field and the elemental geometry of mid to late twentieth century post painterly abstraction, minimalism and op-art. Franco’s work has exhibited in Canada and the United States and is included in various private and corporate collections throughout North America.
