Today we’d like to introduce you to Frank Forte.
Frank, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
I came to LA 16 years ago to find work in Animation. Which I did. It wasn’t easy–I didn’t know many people, so I had to network and send my portfolios out to many studios. Once I got work in animation, I met more people who were connected and I kept moving from job to job. Some of the studios and productions I’ve worked for and on are: Renegade Animation, Comedy Central, Despicable Me 2, The Emoji Movie, Bob’s Burgers, Truth or Dare, Insidious 4, 3Below, Dreamworks Animation, Blumhouse Productions among others. Aside from the day work of storyboarding, I always was dipping my foot into the fine art world. In 2013 I decided to really go at its full speed ahead and created a style that was working for me, which was a dark, surrealist version of the old black and white cartoons of the 30s and 40s.
With California being ground zero for the Pop Surrealist movement, I started submitting to galleries such as La Luz de Jesus, Copro gallery, and Corey Helford gallery. After a few rejections la Luz de Jesus gallery accepted me to their annual Laluzapalooza Group Show. Once I showed there, I started getting calls from other galleries all over the world to show work. Since then I’ve shown at: t La Luz De Jesus Gallery (LA, CA), CASS Contemporary (Tampa, FL), Sally Centigrade Gallery (Denver, CO), Arch Enemy Arts (Philadelphia, PA), Revolution gallery (Buffalo, NY), Dark Art Emporium (Long Beach, CA), The Gabba Gallery (LA, CA), Dream Factory Art (Frankfurt, Germany), The Phone Booth Gallery (Long Beach, CA) Night Gallery Fine Arts, Cannibal Flower and the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery among others..
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
My art is inspired by Classic cartoons and comic books of the 1930s and 40s. Even into the 50s. I like the old stuff, the rubber hose style, Betty Boop, Fleischer Studios, old Warner Brothers cartoons. But I was always into the dark stuff, horror films, horror comics. So, my work kind of juxtapozes imagery from animation, comics and horror into one semi-cohesive style. I mainly work in acrylic, ink, cel vinyl and collage on canvas and wood. But recently I have been experimenting with assemblages. In my most recent la Luz De Jesus gallery show in June 2018, I had one piece that was an assemblage which shows the direction I’ll be going for some of my pieces. I’ve also branched out and began working in another more colorful style more broadly known as Neo-Pop. This work has more color and uses images from the 1960s and 1970s comic books, but also incorporates street art and other
inspirations. For this work I use collage, old comic books, vellum, glue, spray paint, acrylic, ink, cel vinyl and many more mediums. I’ve also been working bigger too. I hope people take away a sense of yesteryear and their childhood.
“The Exploration of the Cartoon Myth” was my second exhibition with the La Luz De Jesus Gallery. Inspired by a steady diet of classic cartoons, comics and horror films, my work continues to explore the realm of disturbed characters that seem trapped in a nightmarish animated world. This new series of paintings incorporate the appropriation of figures and images we know from the yesteryear of the animated film as well as introducing Frank’s original characters. We also see the return of “Dickey Wolf” and “Molly,” two-bit players that, despite their previous disembowelments, decapitations and seemingly horrid demises, still keep returning to the canvas like some reanimated Lovecraftian horror. The Exploration of the Cartoon Myth tries the fuse the old and the new and act as a launching point for the next series of works.
Some of the pieces sold, but about half of them can still be viewed in the “hallway” at
La Luz De Jesus Gallery
4633 Hollywood Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90027
(323) 666-7667
Contact Director Matthew Gardocki for purchase.
The sterotype of a starving artist scares away many potentially talented artists from pursuing art – any advice or thoughts about how to deal with the financial concerns an aspiring artist might be concerned about?
Ha! Pretty funny! The starving artist question! It is true that it’s not easy making a living selling art. I have had to keep a day job storyboarding in animation to pay the bills. It’s true that once the you factor in the 50/50 split with the gallery there may not be much leftover with profit to make a living off of. Not at first anyway, but you have to build up a sales history and a collector base and that usually starts with lower prices. As you get more known and have sales, you can gradually raise prices with the help and advice of the galleries you sell with. Also–I feel comic conventions, like Wondercon, Comic-Con and Designer con are great places to display art and sell prints. I’m always handing out cards with my social media and trying to build mailing lists. With sites like Amazon merch, Threadless, Teespring and others you can put your designs on T Shirts and all sorts of merch and the companies take care of producing and shipping–I think it’s great for artists who need to keep focusing on creating art. If you can work up to getting shows at Miami’s Art Basel–or Pop ups anywhere–this can all help get the word out.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
I currently have work exhibited at
La Luz De Jesus Gallery
4633 Hollywood Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90027
(323) 666-7667
Contact Director Matthew Gardocki for purchase.
https://laluzdejesus.com
Revolution Gallery
1419 Hertel Avenue
Buffalo, NY 14214
716.322.7656
[email protected]
https://revolutionartgallery.com/
My own website:
www.frankforte.com
SaatchiArt
https://www.saatchiart.com/FrankForte
Tee shirts and Merch
https://frankforte.threadless.com/
Contact Info:
- Website: www.frankforte.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/frankforteart/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FrankForteArt/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/frankforteart
- Other: https://www.saatchiart.com/FrankForte
Image Credit:
Photos by Frank Forte
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