RENE FRANCO

​Los Angeles, CA, USA

CREATIVE DISCIPLINE-
fine art

PRIMARY MEDIUM(S)-
painting

ARTIST STATEMENT-
In the aftermath of the 2016 election, the plot points of dystopian fiction have begun to appear indistinguishable from breaking news alerts. Poorly written prophecies lifted from speculative narratives have materialized to embolden the darkest id of America’s fractured selves. We now speak of Klansman and Nazis as series regulars, never to be voted off the island reality show that we appear incapable of collectively escaping. As we slide further and further into the cautionary futures laid out by generations of artists and writers, values such as accountability and justice seem to have been relegated to an alternate reality. Pulling from the history of painting, comics, pulp sci-fi art, imagery from online rightwing conspiracies, and the daily tumult of the Trump administration, I obsessively reflect on how dystopian dread can excise and illuminate collective fears. The hair-on-fire urgency of following a wildly unpredictable news cycle often results in scathing caricatures of figures such as Tucker Carlson, Stephen Miller, and Kanye West. Most recently, I have taken an introspective approach in examining the effects of excessive media consumption through the genre of self-portraits. These portraits frame a variety of personas from Guston-esque eyeball bodies to Speedy Gonzalez as stand-ins for myself reacting in real-time to hourly macabre developments. In attempting to abstract and re-assemble the most crucial moments of this era, I hope to embellish in the blurry binaries of the absurdities and horrors of contemporary white supremacy.

Instagram-
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