Francisco Moreno at Oliver Francis Gallery

Kevin Jacobs opened a new gallery in Deep Ellum. The gallery is called The Oliver Francis Gallery and provides a much needed space for experimental artists in Dallas. Representing a New York Bowery pop up space the gallery is situated between an Automotive shop and an odd looking parking lot. A few friends and I visited a mural show last week called, Seven Days in America, by the Texas based artist Francisco Moreno. Apparently the gallery was transformed into a giant series of large murals in only seven days; each mural a headline from the previous day’s paper. The work was excellent and almost unbelievable that it all completed in such a short amount of time. Take a look at the photos and read the press release from the show and let us know what you think.  The photos from the sketchbook Moreno provided are also incredibly interesting. What do you think the murals and sketches are trying to say about the living conditions present in America?

BLOW-UP will be following more openings at Oliver Francis Gallery and will try and provide more notice for their next opening.

The Oliver Francis Gallery

Kevin Jacobs, Gallery Owner

  For artist Francisco Moreno's solo exhibition, Seven Days in America at Oliver Francis, he will work in the space for seven days on a mural covering the entire main exhibition space, interacting with objects within the space like doors, pipes, electrical units and more. Seven Days in America serves the artist as an opportunity to further explore his own daily drawings of national news headlines and events on a larger scale. His series of daily news drawings effectively suspend the viewer with fluid contours and careful figurative gestures, while allowing time for further examination and reflection of the event in hand. Headlines taken from catastrophes caused by the tornados in Missouri to the announcement of Osama bin Laden’s death recall very powerful moments in our lives, beckoning us to relive that initial moment of discovery in a delicate moment. In the show, we see news reports, such as “War Evolves With Drones, Some Tiny as Bugs,” that capture the quiet subtleties in American life that may have been overlooked, but have now been developed into large scale paintings, immersing the audience’s visionary field. Every morning a new headline will be selected to be painted during the installation period.
This engagement with (inter)nationally known reports to regional and relatively unknown news captures a semi-broad look into American culture and society, politics, and everyday life, that translates to the general public, whilst being art historically entangled. Moreno gives a nod to Gerhard Richter and his masterful paintings of the Baader-Meinhof era to On Kawara and the ritual of documentation, though Moreno seems to have found his voice with this large scale project spurred from his notebook drawings. It is his ambition and the irreverence of failure that fuels the overwhelming experience of this installation.
Similarly to his daily notebook drawings, he is taken by the individual and their relation to America. Such is exemplified by his In America… poems. These poems unite and disassemble the relations between man and state. By inviting others to fill in the blank, In America… allows for a session of free associations demonstrating that particular individual’s identity within America. A video projection will show in the back project room sampling entries from Moreno’s In America… poems, provoking reflection upon our own relationship with America.
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Francisco Moreno (b. 1986 in Mexico City) is a current MFA candidate at the Rhode Island School of Design's Painting Program. He is also a graduate of UT Arlington, with a BFA in Studio Art with a concentration in Painting.
Seven Days in America is the inaugural show at the Oliver Francis Gallery. Oliver Francis Gallery is an independent/artist run experimental art space intended to show current work/projects by local artists and thinkers. Situated minutes away from Deep Ellum, downtown Dallas, and Fair Park, Oliver Francis operates on 1000 square feet and will place a special focus on installation, new media along with performance. The ambition for the space is to provide Dallas with exciting, challenging and progressive art shows used to engage the community and students in the metroplex.
BLOW-UP

For more info check out:

http://www.oliverfrancisgallery.com/
The Oliver Francis Gallery
209 S. Peak St.
Dallas, Texas 75226
(817) 879 - 8231
and

http://www.franciscomoreno.net/