My art work is made up of 80% found materials. That includes the surfaces that I paint on, the paint itself, the large items and the small ones. The things I actually spend money on are more for structural integrity like glue, screws, tape, brushes... all the tools that go into sticking the found objects together. I've now also started to spend money on other people's art, usually anonymous sculptures, that I incorporate into my own work.
I consider myself a folk artist, representing images of the Bay Area California where I live, our shared global culture, as well as scenes of my inner life in the subtler realms of reality.
I consider myself an outsider artist, but I like to say insider artist... meaning that I believe in inventing techniques of manifesting ideas as art. Mostly this type of art is self taught and often very unique to the individual.
And the third element in my style of work is that of collaboration. I love to work with other artists on the same piece. By doing this my process always stays on the cutting edge of fun, unpredictable, explorative, and fast. It keeps me open to the stories, images and energies that I could never create on my own.
My narrative work comes into play after developing my characters through sculptures and paintings and then bringing them further to life through story, drawings and song.
Tom is the director for the Firehouse Art Collective
The Firehouse Art Collective was co-created by Tom Franco in 2004 and he became the sole director in 2008 as his on-going master work.
The mission reads: “Empowering the practice of artistry for the benefit of personal and community well-being. The main function is to provide physical spaces for artists to co-create a culture of interdisciplinary collaboration.”
Over the years the collective spread across as many as six locations in the San Francisco East Bay Area in Berkeley and Oakland. In 2021 locations will spread to Reno Nevada and Los Angeles California.
