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Franko B
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Franko B, ‘still life’, 2000-2002.
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Franko B, ‘Wrapped Bunny, canvas and dried blood, from perfomance of 'I Miss You' at Tate Modern, March 2003’, glue and found/personal object, 37x20x18cm.
Since I left art school in 1990, I have been creating work across art forms and for exhibitions.
My projects have involved video, photography, performance, painting, installation, sculpture, construction and mixed media.
My work focuses on the visceral, where the body is a canvas and an unmediated site for representation of the sacred, the beautiful, the untouchable, the unspeakable; and for the pain, the love, the hate, the loss, the power and the fears of the human condition.
It is only since 1999 that I have had a 'proper' studio. Prior to that I made work in my living room in Brixton and between 1997 and 1999 in Waterloo. Now that I have a studio in Toynbee, I have been able to make larger works and installations.
In the last three to four years my 'studio' work has generated from two areas of practice. Undoubtedly, one area would not exist without my performance work.
I have been working with found, mostly domestic, objects that I wrap with bloodied canvas from my performances such as I miss you (Tate Modern/Live Culture, March 2003). I have also made paintings with the canvas or with the baby wipes that I use to clean up after the performances. In this instance, all the work produced is a product of 'recycling' in more than one way: by covering found objects that have been discarded or thrown away, I give them a new lease of life by making them mine, or symbolically giving them love and a new home.
My other practice uses photography, video and installation. Again the work process for this is similar to the one of finding, encountering and discovering inspirations from everyday life – but in this case walking from A to B in London. Rather than making lens-based work in a studio this has been a welcome development for me – having a separate living and working space means that I have to leave the house everyday.
One example of this is the project still life. For two years or more I have photographed people sleeping in London's West End, Waterloo and the East End – the areas I pass through most days, getting from A to B.
Both areas of work are ongoing processes. As long as I continue to perform I will work with the by-products; they will be put to use to cover or wrap objects or to make paintings.
Another form of recycling takes place with my photography in the streets. An example of this in the last six months are the photographs produced for my book still life. I made life-sized cut-outs of the images and placed them in city locations where in 'real life' they would be prohibited – outside The Bank of England, the Stock Exchange and the Lloyds building, and also tourist and cultural locations such as County Hall or Tate Modern.
www.franko-b.com
First published: a-n Magazine August 2003 as ‘From a to b’
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