The Event of Form in the Art of Robert Franca
Robert Franca is an artist based in New York. Inspired by the architectural forms in 14th-century Italian art, his work veers between painting and sculptures in absolute harmony.
Robert Franca in his own words…
For Twenty years I’ve been balancing my studio time between painting and sculpture. But it’s not a rigid divide. In fact, my practice has been ‘about’ dissolving boundaries between them.
… My paintings double as concept tryouts for sculptures. They help me find my forms, but I’m as conscious of them as fields of color and light as I am of their use of planes in defining a structure.
… I’m intent on transposing my imagery concepts from paintings that stand on their own, into the realm of sculpture.
… Much of my work relates to architecture and design.The conceptual underpinnings of my work are based on the architectural forms in 14th-century Italian paintings.
… I first fell in love with Architecture when I realized I was looking at an ‘idea’ that was first conceived on a two-dimensional plane.
… As with architectural practice, my drawings, paintings and scale model prototypes also serve as representations of larger works.
… I draw/paint with the belief that the forms I imagine can be built – and then I build them. Using foam core, I construct in-scale sculptures that illustrate as well as validate my 2D concepts.
©Robert Franca
… It’s a material that’s not precious and allows me to work quickly and take risks.
… I believe a sense of space is the essence of all senses and I’m attracted to painting and sculpture by its ability to project concordant structure into space through an envisioning faculty.
… But my extended goal is to create a sense of place; to create a public art that is decidedly personal while pursuing the challenge of presenting spontaneously wrought images, conceived through a process of free association, into a sense of space and possibility.
