Tom Francis: Signatures

Tom Francis: Signatures

Dates: 21 April – 20 May 2017
Public Opening Reception: Friday 21 April, 6:00-8:00 pm
Thomas Deans Fine Art, 690 Miami Circle NE #905, Atlanta, GA 30324
Gallery Hours: Monday - Saturday, 11-5
Atlanta, GA. Thomas Deans Fine Art in Buckhead is presenting Tom Francis: Signatures, a
retrospective of large-scale paintings spanning three decades by one of Atlanta’s finest
painters. The dozen large-scale paintings embody the artist’s immediately recognizable
signature style, a style Francis developed in direct response to his move to Atlanta and
the Deep South. The paintings teem with life; humans, animals, plants, even school
buses find their way into his exuberant images. Defined by their vivid color, multilayered
patterning, variety of motifs, and lavish application of paint, the paintings are by turns
lyrical, provocative, and complex, but always a celebration of paint itself
Francis arrived in Atlanta in 1978 from his native Wisconsin to take a professorship at the
Atlanta College of Art, subsequently the Savannah College of Art and Design. The move
proved a revelation and provoked a radical change in his art from work that the artist
describes as “moody, dark, and intellectual, reflective of the Wisconsin winters” to a
joyous reflection of the saturated light, lush flora, and exotic fauna of the Deep South.
Francis, who had intended to become a biologist, only discovered art during his
sophomore year of college. He went on to earn three degrees in art. His early love of
animals found expression in his paintings, which often include stylized motifs
representative of a range of creatures from turtles and dragonflies to birds, cows, and
fish. Motifs crystallize from the artist’s experiences. An early Atlanta memory of a long
queue of yellow school buses parked outside the Woodruff Arts Center found expression
in some of the paintings. Pyramids, palms, and reefs entered the work after diving trips in
the Caribbean and visits to Yucatan. Atlanta’s historic Oakland cemetery has made an
appearance, as have suburban dining rooms whose windows reveal the riotous
“southern” nature outside. Above all, the imagery fuels the explosion of color that is
central to the artist’s work.
690 Miami Circle NW #905, Atlanta, GA 30324 tel 404 814-1811 thomasdeansfineart.com
Tom Francis’s work has been exhibited the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota;
High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia; Georgia Museum of Fine Art, Athens, Georgia;
Chapelle de la Sorbonne, Paris; Palazzo di Venezia, Rome; and elsewhere. His work can be
seen in numerous private, public, and corporate collections.