THE FRANKLIN is a uniquely designed, artists-run project space that allows artists and curators to engage with the East Garfield Park community through cultural events. THE FRANKLIN is located in the backyard of Edra Soto and Dan Sullivan’s home.
THE FRANKLIN is a 12’ x 12’ outdoor wood structure that holds designed ventilation screens and 6 movable walls, a deck floor and a corrugated ceiling panes. THE FRANKLIN is the only artist-run exhibition venue in Chicago designed and fabricated by it's owners.
Ben Butler’s sculptures reflect the sensibility that an object stands as a momentary physical manifestation of an ongoing process. They provide evidence of unseen forces, and they point to the distinction between the human and the non-human. Throughout the natural world, unexpected complexity emerges from simple, persistent processes. When the order of things is not readily apparent, complexity is often mistaken for chaos. In the rush to comprehend we miss the wonderful sources of things. His response is to play in the boundaries between the simple and the complex, and between the complex and the overwhelming.
In Emily Hermant’s work, a recurring theme is the utilization of slow, hand-making processes to generate ways of representing the rapid movement and proliferation of digital information and communication in contemporary life. For this duo exhibition with Ben Butler at The Franklin, Hermant has created Walled Garden, an installation of hand-rendered wallpaper panels on the interior of the Franklin’s outdoor structure, in which orchestrated ensembles of individually drawn dashes fluctuate in vibrant, toxic color combinations—a distillation of our experience of the hum and blur of rapidly changing technological information.
Tours are offered during open hours and by appointment.
Open every Saturday from 2-5:00PM
For more information, visit: http://thefranklinoutdoor.tumblr.com/
