Subscribe To the newsletter

Derek Franklin

Statement

Born in 1981, Derek Franklin grew up in rural Scappoose, Oregon. As a young adult, Franklin’s work as an industrial fabricator motivated him to articulate multi-dimensional connections among modernism, nature, and the individual. The most visible associations came from minimalism, the individualist society developed after World War II, and the industrialization of the United States in general and specifically within the timber and agrarian cultures. Four ruling themes were developed out of these relationships and approached through video, sculpture, photography, printmaking, and painting, then placed into three-dimensional assemblages. The interconnectivity of American Modernism, nature, the individual, and industrialization are deconstructed through acts of exploring, building, and destroying within the work. Humor and futility are conditions often used by the artist to set up entry points into the work’s more historical concepts. He establishes art historical relationships by using strategies of appropriation and simulation, which builds dialogues around modernist ideals of the individual (artist) as superior and heroic.

CV

Education
2009 BFA Pacific Northwest College of Art Printmaking

Exhibitions and Curatorial Experience -2010 January, Scott Projects, Chicago, IL
-2009 October “In Honor of PNCA @ 100” PDX Contemporary, Portland, OR
-2009 August “Introduction” Group Exhibition” Pulliam Gallery, Portland, OR
-2009 May “BFA Thesis Show” Pacific Northwest College of Art, Portland, OR
-2009 May “A Journey That Wasn’t” Solo Exhibition, BFA Gallery, Pacific Northwest College of Art, Portland, OR
-2009 January Curator for “Modern Salvage” Group Exhibition, Cascade Gallery, Portland Community College, Portland, OR
-2008 October Curator for “Shitty Drawings” Group Exhibition, BFA Gallery, Pacific Northwest College of Art, Portland, OR
-2008 May “BFA Show” Juried Exhibition, President’s Award, Pacific Northwest College of Art, Swigerts Commons, Portland, OR
-2008 January “Digital Dimensions”, Group Exhibition, Blackfish Gallery, Portland, OR
-2007 December “Routinely So” Juried Sculpture Show, Manuel Izquierdo Sculpture Gallery, Portland, OR
-2007 September “Collage Anthologies” Solo Exhibition Cascade Gallery Portland, OR
-2007 February “Do No Harm Vs. Step Up” Group Exhibition, The New American Art Union Portland, OR

Awards and Publications -Pacific Northwest College of Art “Presidents Award” 2008
-Printmaking Department Thesis Award
-Ruth Cole Kainen Printmaking Scholarship
-Nancy Tonkin Memorial Scholarship
-The School of The Art Institute of Chicago “Enrichment Grant”
-Robert C. Lee Memorial Printmaking Scholarship
-The Oregonian “Divide Entices Interaction”
February 9, 2007 A&E p36
Brian Libby

Private and Public Collections
-City of Seattle Portable Works Collection Seattle, WA
-Comcast Corporation Portland, OR
-WJT Mitchell Collection Chicago, IL
-Susie and Harlan Owen Collection Abilene, TX

Related Experience
-2009 Commencement Speaker Pacific Northwest College of Art
-2009 Guest Speaker Portland Community College
-2008 Internship, Portland Institute for Contemporary Art
-2007 Guest Speaker Portland Community College
-The Nines Printmaking Project, Printer