AUTHOR latest

[Lgihome@aol.com]

Home 5
‘Oh Lover Boy’ 
Franko B
May 4-1 July 2001
Open every Thursday 11-3pm & Saturday 1-5pm, and Sunday 1 July 1-5pm as part 
of Camberwell Arts Week

Known for his spectacular and challenging live performances involving his own 
blood; Franko B is one of the leading performance artists of his generation. 
His work focuses on the visceral, carnal nature of the body; "confronting us 
with the essence of the human condition in an objectified, vulnerable, and 
yet seductively powerful form. My concern is to make the unbearable bearable 
and to provoke the viewer to reconsider our collective understandings of 
beauty and of 
suffering ". Little seen in this country however is a body of work including: 
wall-based pieces, objects and installation works, which complement and 
explore his performance presence and obsessions. 

In this special exhibition of works at home, the domestic spaces are filled 
with a range of works, which both embody and challenge the space. Having 
spent a period of his childhood in Italy in an orphanage, and then in an 
institute for children run by the Red Cross, Franko B’s relationship to the 
comforts and dangers of home are complex and unique. The Red Cross symbol is 
one of the central motifs in his work, occurring again and again, inscribed 
onto a range of found objects, from a child’s pushchair to ordinary house 
hold objects, such as chairs, tables and garden implements. These and other 
‘ready-mades’ will be encountered around the house during the course of the 
exhibition.

The main studio room upstairs will become furnished with bedroom furniture 
upholstered in canvas which has been used in Franko’s performances. In the 
act of performance the decorative, painterly effects of the blood on canvas 
leaves its trace, and these ‘paintings’ become material for future works. 
The studio will be filled with an installation including bed, sofa, chair and 
clock as well as a rail of clothes made by international designers such as 
Walter Van Bereindonck, Vexed Generation and Hiroyuki Oyoshi, all made up 
from painterly fragments.

The main living room downstairs will become home to Franko’s customised 
pinball machine. This highly decorated object acts like an animated diary, 
recalling and recounting images from his life, and will be available for the 
audience to play with. A neon piece in the bathroom and small drawings in the 
playroom complete the installation.

This site-specific presentation of works acknowledges the range and breadth 
of Franko B’s work and alongside the new performance piece Oh Lover Boy at 
Beaconsfield, and new monograph published by Black Dog Publishing, is the 
most significant presentation of his works in this country.

Franko B was born in Italy in 1960, but has lived and worked in London since 
1979. He studied at Camberwell School of Art and Chelsea School of Art 
graduating with a BA in Fine Art. He has performed and exhibited his work to 
wide international acclaim, including festivals in Mexico City, Milan, 
Amsterdam, Antwerp, Lausanne, Zabreb, Zopenhagen and Florence. The monograph 
FRANKO B, with texts by Lois Keegan  and Stuart Morgan with images by 
Nicholas Sinclair was published by Black Dog Publishing in 2000. He was 
featured on the South Bank Show in 1998 and has been the subject of many 
articles and features in the press, most recently in the March 2001 issue of 
Dazed and Confused.

The project Oh Lover Boy includes a new performance piece and book launch. 
Performance: 28 April, 7.30pm @ Beaconsfield, 22 Newport Street, London SE11. 
Box Office : 07752 834183 advance sales only. Tickets: £9 or £4 concession. 
Book: Launch date : 20 April, 6.30pm @ Toynbee Studios, 28 Commercial Street, 
London E1. Published by Black Dog Publishing. £19.95. info@bdp.demon.co.uk 
Tel. 0207 613 1922. Performance co-produced by Artsadmin and Beaconsfield. 
Financially assisted by London Arts & CIDA. 
Please call Laura 0207 274 3452, email Lgihome@aol.com for slides or any 
further information.
home @ 1a Flodden Road, London SE5 9LL
______________________________________________________________________________
home is a new arts organisation based inside a family house in Camberwell, 
London. Renovated over two years, the house had not been touched since the 
1930's and is built on a curious pentagram design. Instead of clearing the 
rooms so they operate as a gallery, the living environment of the house is 
used, providing fifteen unique spaces to generate a variety of exhibitions, 
events, publications, and related offsite projects. home is a vehicle for 
research into the relationship between contemporary art and the domestic, and 
works innovatively with artists, business and other organisations for the 
full integration of art into all 'living' spaces.

shoes in hallway.JPG