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Harlem 125 - Work on Paper Depicting the New York City Harlem Neighborhood

Creator: Francks Deceus
Offered by: Arco Gallery

Description
Francks Deceus's Harlem 125 is a 18 x 24 inches mixed media work . The medium is acrylic and silkscreen on paper. It depicts an African American couple standing at a street crossing, in the New York City neighborhood of Harlem. In the background are two townhouses. This work belong to a series titled "Every Day People". As the artist explains "this series was inspired by the great migration of the 1940, 50s, and 60s where large amounts of African Americans relocated to northern cities in search of a better life. Artists like Jacob Lawrence used this subject in great volume, but I was more interested in the outcome of the migration rather than the migration itself. In this body of work I was trying to illustrate the success of those migrants in comparison to the rural south they left behind, as they strive for a better life."
The style and technique used for this artwork, like the others belonging to the same series, has the linearity and straightforwardness of the most successful faux-naïf art. The lack of ornamentation and the simplicity of the green and blue dresses, and the red townhouse cut out into the white background, gives to the scene a penetrating immediacy.

Francks F. Deceus was born in Cap-Haitien, Haiti, moving to NY when he was nine years old, where he has been living and creating ever since. Throughout his career, Francks has developed a unique modernist style where figures distilled to their pure features are layered in an abstract world that is evocative of our modern society.
His work relates to artists like Norman Lewis and Howarddena Pindell in the use of unconventional texture and rich color and how it focuses on African American urban life and his community's struggles. His most recent series, Mumbo Jumbo, focuses on men wrestling with an adverse urban environment. It has been inspired by the same-titled Ishmael Reed's book focused on the complexities of the African American experience.

Group exhibitions include the Brooklyn Museum, NY; Museum of Contemporary African Diaspora Arts (MOCADA), Brooklyn, NY; The National Civil Rights Museum, Memphis, TN; Gallery M, New York, NY; and Hampton University, Hampton, VA.

His work is in private and public collections, including Xavier University, New Orleans, LA; Schomburg Center, New York Public Library, NY; Philipse Manor Hall State Historic Site House museum, Yonkers; New York, and International African American Museum, Charleston, SC;

His work has been featured in publications such as The International Revue of African-American Art and The Village Voice, as well as being included in " 100 New York Painters ", by Cynthia Maris Dantzic.

related keywords: Migration, City Scenes, Family, Children, Racial Identity, Ethnic Identity, Caribbean, Human Figure, Painting, African American

More Information

Documentation:	Signed
Period:	2000-2021
Materials:	Mixed Media,Paper,Acrylic
Condition:	Good.
Creation Date:	2006
Styles / Movements:	Modernism
Incollect Reference #:	751854

Dimensions

W.	24 in;	H.	18 in;
W.	60.96 cm;	H.	45.72 cm;

Message from Seller:

Arco Gallery, founded in 2013 by Valentina Puccioni, offers a truly personalized art experience in the heart of SoHo, NYC. Located in a historic loft and open by appointment only, the gallery provides exclusive, intimate viewings, away from the mainstream gallery scene. P: 212.226.1207 E: valentina@arcogallery.com