Franko B

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Franko B
Nationality Itallian
Field performance art, body art, painting, sculpture, video
Works I Miss You, Oh Lover Boy, Still Life

Franko B (born 1960) is an internationally acclaimed London-based performance artist who uses his own body in his art. He was born in Milan, Italy and has lived in London since 1979. He studied fine art in London at Camberwell College of Arts (1986–7) and Chelsea College of Art (1987–90). He works in a wide variety of media including video, photography, performance art, painting, installation, sculpture, music and mixed media.

His work focuses on the visceral. Franko uses his own blood as a medium. He makes his body into a canvas in an attempt to portray "the pain, the love, the hate, the loss, the power and the fears of the human condition".

He performed at the ICA, London in 1996, the South London Gallery in 1999 and 2004, the Centre of Attention in 2000, Tate Modern in 2002, and the Ikon Gallery, Birmingham in 2005. He has exhibited work internationally in Zagreb, Mexico City, Milan, Amsterdam, Antwerp, Copenhagen, Madrid, Vienna, Tate Liverpool, the Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Cork, and the prestigious Palazzo delle Papesse, Siena.

Franko B has lectured at a number of well-known art schools including St. Martins School of Art, New York University and the Courtauld Institute of Art. He has been the subject of three monographs, "Franko B" (Black Dog Publishing 1998), "Oh Lover Boy" (2001), and "Blinded by Love" (2006), and has published a photographic project entitled "Still Life" (2003).

Franko B has been the subject of numerous book chapters, articles, reviews and television programmes. In March 2008 British art magazine "Latest Art" profiled him in a major feature.

[edit] External links