I included artwork by Adrian Franks, who has a background in big concept thinking. He has over 14 years of experience in the field of design, advertising, and fine arts. Now he focuses his energy on the evolving digital medium. In the late 1990’s Franks began working for a digital agency that built B2B sites. Over the next nine years, he created art in multiple forms, mainly focusing on interactive design. He has worked for groups like Wal-Mart, U.S. Army, Bank of America, and the list goes on. He is the first person to complete the Apprenticeship Program at Bellsouth Advertising and Publishing Corporation, where he became a certified journeyman in graphic design. He is now the first accredited “Master of Skills” that is recognized by the US Department of Labor (Franks 2011).
His first solo project, “Suspicious Prisms + Fearless” included both paint and digital images on everything from canvases to Masonite pegboard. The message of this series was to highlight people who embodied what it means to be brave and strong. In this series, he included images to portray Jonathan Ferrell who was unarmed and killed by a police officer. Because of his passion for justice, he decided to continue his art to depict his emotions toward Eric Garner’s death ((Brown 2014).
Frank recently created a piece of artwork called “I can’t breathe,” which is in honor of late Eric Garner. He decided to create protest art because “activism in the arts is vital because throughout history artist were the movers of culture. When the people needed to be informed with current events, social issues, or just needed to be enlightened, artist of various types were influencers of their time. Without artists to inform the masses, society as a whole could continue to suffer from certain complexities such as inferiority, ignorance, persecution, etc.”
Eric Garner motivated him because the video of his death was so traumatic, and his death symbolized an injustice to him. He said, “I felt moved to create a piece that would somehow put an aesthetic to a growing issue of violence amongst black men, be it from the cops, other black men, or society at large.”
Franks was very intentional about his color choices listed below:
· Those colors are the NYPD colors which are in their badges, shields and overall branding
· The color blue is representative of air
· The color yellow represents fallen soldiers (the yellow ribbons)
· The black outline of Eric himself represents the struggles and culture from which he comes
· The black also is the color that policemen used when training (firing silhouettes, dog dummies, etc.)
· The image posterization is an iconic look dating back to the propaganda posters.
I think it is important to recognize the significance that the colors played to Frank as he created this artwork. It allowed me to focus on color with my students if I were to incorporate this artwork into my classroom.
Frank also used other artists to inspire his work. Charly Palmer, Carl Owens, and Spiral artists inspired his work because they infused narratives in their work, valued art techniques such as applying shape, form, color, line, weight and light to their works, and incorporated their political beliefs in their artwork. Frank felt honored that Spike Lee shared his image so that the artwork gained awareness around the world. Frank said that the artwork reached far beyond his social influence, but even so, it is not about getting recognition for his artwork. Instead, Frank said that he purpose behind the artwork is for people to connect with an image that highlights a serious issue of violence against innocent people, specifically black men (Steed 2014).
Sources:
Brown, Charlie (2014, Feb 4). Suspicious Prisms + FEARLESS Creative Work by Adrian Franks. Retrieved from http://rollingout.com/culture/suspicious-prisms-fearless-creative-work-adrian-franks/
Franks, Adrian (2011). AF + CW/Adrian Franks Creative Works. Retrieved from http://www.adrianfranks.com/3276/about-me
Steed, Munson (2014, Aug 8). Artist Adrian Franks Discusses his Latest Work, ‘I Can’t Breathe.’ Retrieved from http://rollingout.com/culture/adrian-franks-cant-breathe/
His first solo project, “Suspicious Prisms + Fearless” included both paint and digital images on everything from canvases to Masonite pegboard. The message of this series was to highlight people who embodied what it means to be brave and strong. In this series, he included images to portray Jonathan Ferrell who was unarmed and killed by a police officer. Because of his passion for justice, he decided to continue his art to depict his emotions toward Eric Garner’s death ((Brown 2014).
Frank recently created a piece of artwork called “I can’t breathe,” which is in honor of late Eric Garner. He decided to create protest art because “activism in the arts is vital because throughout history artist were the movers of culture. When the people needed to be informed with current events, social issues, or just needed to be enlightened, artist of various types were influencers of their time. Without artists to inform the masses, society as a whole could continue to suffer from certain complexities such as inferiority, ignorance, persecution, etc.”
Eric Garner motivated him because the video of his death was so traumatic, and his death symbolized an injustice to him. He said, “I felt moved to create a piece that would somehow put an aesthetic to a growing issue of violence amongst black men, be it from the cops, other black men, or society at large.”
Franks was very intentional about his color choices listed below:
· Those colors are the NYPD colors which are in their badges, shields and overall branding
· The color blue is representative of air
· The color yellow represents fallen soldiers (the yellow ribbons)
· The black outline of Eric himself represents the struggles and culture from which he comes
· The black also is the color that policemen used when training (firing silhouettes, dog dummies, etc.)
· The image posterization is an iconic look dating back to the propaganda posters.
I think it is important to recognize the significance that the colors played to Frank as he created this artwork. It allowed me to focus on color with my students if I were to incorporate this artwork into my classroom.
Frank also used other artists to inspire his work. Charly Palmer, Carl Owens, and Spiral artists inspired his work because they infused narratives in their work, valued art techniques such as applying shape, form, color, line, weight and light to their works, and incorporated their political beliefs in their artwork. Frank felt honored that Spike Lee shared his image so that the artwork gained awareness around the world. Frank said that the artwork reached far beyond his social influence, but even so, it is not about getting recognition for his artwork. Instead, Frank said that he purpose behind the artwork is for people to connect with an image that highlights a serious issue of violence against innocent people, specifically black men (Steed 2014).
Sources:
Brown, Charlie (2014, Feb 4). Suspicious Prisms + FEARLESS Creative Work by Adrian Franks. Retrieved from http://rollingout.com/culture/suspicious-prisms-fearless-creative-work-adrian-franks/
Franks, Adrian (2011). AF + CW/Adrian Franks Creative Works. Retrieved from http://www.adrianfranks.com/3276/about-me
Steed, Munson (2014, Aug 8). Artist Adrian Franks Discusses his Latest Work, ‘I Can’t Breathe.’ Retrieved from http://rollingout.com/culture/adrian-franks-cant-breathe/