Artist Statement
I paint because I need to move.
Painting is a physical act that I want to extend to the viewer as much as possible.
Through a process of breaking down parts of a human form, I combine representational figurative imagery with archetypes often grounded in nature, history, the grotesque, or the delirious.
Everything about what I create is an act to understand what is real. As our technological age continues advancing, we are constantly confronted with the simple question: Is this real? We’re flooded with visuals, messages, and footage that can be manipulated to support opposing meanings. I’m interested in how this ambiguity affects our sense of connection, identity, and purpose. When I work in a public space I often incorporate pattern and repetition in some way, as I approach both the design and installation of the public art piece as a meditative exercise. I’m interested in how digital experiences and physical experiences overlap and cannibalize one another.
Through my creative work I aim to slow down perception: inviting viewers to sit with uncertainty and question what is real, what is felt, and what is fabricated.
Bio
Charley Frances (b.1990) is a self-taught artist who lives and works in Cleveland, Ohio. She first started her career in commercial murals and community driven public art in 2018 as the first American accepted into the Mural Arts Career Development Program in Toronto, Ontario. There she completed a three-month certification for emerging mural artists and public art project managers, as well as assisted in her first mural restoration based in Canada. Over the next six years she specialized in site-specific public works in the U.S. to help inspire interaction within a community, especially projects that included youth participation or works intended for youth audiences. Some installation locations include Cleveland, OH; Columbus, OH; Cincinnati, OH; Baltimore, MD; and Norfolk, VA. Frances continues her work in the public art space through serving on the Public Art Committee for the City of Cleveland (having been nominated for a two year term until May 2025), as she continues to grow her studio practice.
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