Franklin Delgado

Artist’s Statement

It is mesmerizing how the act of rubbing ashes from animal or vegetable matter can be transformed and repurposed in an act of revival. Charcoal is a thermochemical decomposition of organic material at elevated temperatures in the absence of oxygen. It is the processes of transformation of an impure form of carbon, volatile and fragile, with a tremendous capability to ignite. These portraits are that fire; they pay homage to the eternal sublimity of love and its transcendent entanglement in human inner immensity: individuals whose uniqueness treasures an everlasting sentiment that spans the transience of life. This uniqueness mesmerizes me, and moves me to humbly approach these experiences as an artist.

Life itself is a process of unraveling transformations. Intricate organic rhythms and an endless amount of genetic information are coded uniquely at the embryonic stage. Life is given by a miraculous and astonishing course of developments that begins with a process of cellular transformations. The unique intensity within these transformations forces me to stop in the quickness of a moment. There, I try to remember and treasure the images of marvelous entangled rhythms and the human condition. The convolutions in these images fascinate me. Once immersed, I am able to grasp a vastness that I cannot fully relish yet. It is then when drawing becomes my haven; I can resize and reclaim these experiences, by gracefully moving my hand.

Biography

To Give Value to Time.

Franklin Delgado, a native of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, lives and works in Augusta, Georgia. Delgado’s work is born from observation, engaged thinking and foundation, and depicts the world based on meticulous observation of contemporary life and nature. His portraits present three-dimensional spaces and forms on a two-dimensional plane with precise detail. Delgado’s works are homages to love and the grandeur created with minute particles of matter both in life and art. The medium, graphite powder, is a ground material of the smallest size, filled with a tremendous capability to ignite. His works represent that fire. These are drawings and paintings of individuals who are made in the image of the divine, whom with love has gifted life.

Delgado has exhibited domestically and internationally, including the National Gallery of Art, Tegucigalpa, Honduras, The Museum of Contemporary Art Georgia, Atlanta, GA, Steffen Thomas Museum of Art, Madison, GA, Marietta Cobb Museum of Art, Marietta, GA, Westobou Gallery, Augusta, GA, Greater Augusta Arts Council, Augusta, GA, Kalamazoo Institute of Art, Kalamazoo, MI, Manifest Gallery, Cincinnati, OH, Kai Lin Art Gallery, Atlanta, GA, Kalamazoo Art Institute, Kalamazoo, MI, S. Tucker Cooke Gallery, University of North Carolina-Asheville, Holland Area Art Council, Holland, MI, Aiken Center for the Arts, Aiken, SC, Collins Art Gallery, Grand Rapids Community College, MI, Gutstein Gallery, Savannah, GA, Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, GA, and more.