Shingo Francis '88

ARTIST STATEMENT

When I was living in Yokohama, Japan, freshly relocated from Los Angeles, I rented an old dental office as a live/work studio. Looking to reconnect with my Japanese roots after leaving at thirteen to live with my father, I visited the temples and shrines in nearby Kamakura to observe and feel the space of the traditional structures and gardens. What I experienced was the simplicity and silence, which seemed to funnel your attention to the presence of yourself. At the same time, I traveled the other direction on the train to Tokyo to see and experience the contemporary spaces by Arata Isozaki, Kengo Kuma, SAANA, Toyo Ito, to name a few. Although the materials vary widely, the symmetry and same sense of silence in these contemporary spaces has a correlation with the traditional spaces. These observations started to inform my painting practice where composition became more refined and color became spaces. Through the process of compositional reduction and color as space, the resulting series of paintings were simply, yet fully two toned in blue titled “Blue’s Silence”. Another series of work, “Infinite Space” is a continual incarnation with the previously mentioned “Blue’s Silence”. The overall monochrome color as space with a simple composition with one line towards the bottom signifying an attention to presence. The central color is autonomous due to the refined composition dissipating both at the top and bottom of the canvas revealing a subtle motion of transparent layers. In conclusion, art-making is a way for me to explore and express an inner experience of thoughts and emotions with the materials utilizing the abstract elements of line, shape, form and color.