Today we’d like to introduce you to Carlos Franco-Ruiz.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
I was born in 1987 in Managua, Nicaragua. In 1988, my parents decided to emigrate to Miami, Fl looking for a better life for the family. My journey as an artist started when I was accepted in the magnet program at South Miami Senior High School, the next four years would help develop me as an artist. I would soon continue pursuing art at Miami-Dade College and eventually graduating with a BFA from the University of Miami in 2011.
Please tell us about your art.
n 2013, I moved from the hometown of Miami, FL to the small town of Sauce, Uruguay, a small town with a population of 6,000. The seclusion from city life as impacted my work immensely both creatively and in my work ethic, allowing me to focus on my environment closely. A lot of my work revolves around observing the world around me, my first series in Uruguay “Fractured moments” was about the new city in which I was exploring, many of the work were based on my commutes from town into the city of Montevideo and walks around Montevideo. For my second series “CAMPO”, I began exploring my property, a small bit of farm land with patch of woods with small stream that runs through it. I walked it may times, during the different season, looking to showcase the landscape around me, how something that I encounter everyday can be transformed into paintings that hold the attention of the viewing public.
My most recent series, “Espacio sin Memoria” continues this frame of thought, of searching and finding these environments in which I see every day, think about continuously and attempt to recreate through my paintings. The current series brings the idea into a clearer focus of my own mental state. A lot of the work is of places/moments/spaces that exist for a moment in time and disappear the next day. In focusing on these type of composition, I have found that these works resemble my own state of being, being removed from a city environment and living in isolation from what is culture and networks, I myself have to make an imprint in the mind of the viewer, through my paintings. These paintings are explorations into the solitude that I confront daily but through it I yearn to find beauty. Beauty in solitude is the premise of all my work at the moment.
I want to the viewer to find beauty as I see it can be found in our everyday life. My work is the beauty I find in my everyday life.
Given everything that is going on in the world today, do you think the role of artists has changed? How do local, national or international events and issues affect your art?
I think what happens in the world affects an artist since a lot of work revolves on observation in different modes but essentially it is up to the artist if they want to bring in the world into their work. My paintings revolve more around my own personal being removed from what happens in the world which is a choice I’ve made, I want them to reflect subtlety my own personality and mind frame.
I myself am a very political person and have wanted to make something work about the world around me but I didn’t want to react to what was happening. I was looking to create a project that I was passionate about. Which recently I have. At the moment, it is still a work in progress.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
Currently have a solo show “Espacio sin memoria” being exhibited at the Centro Cultural Kavlin in Punta del Este, Uruguay. The show is going to be going until the middle of June. Also have another upcoming 2-man show at the Museo Mazzoni in Maldonado, Uruguay opening June 15. I am also working on a print for a group show in Chiacago this fall.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.franco-ruiz.com
- Email: carlosfrancoart@gmail.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/cfranco_ruiz
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/CFrancoArt/
- Other: https://www.saatchiart.com/franco-ruiz
Image Credit:
Work from series “Espacio sin memoria”
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