Colleen Franca: Inside/Outside

Peppers and Silver Cup, Oil on canvas, 9x12”, 2024

Colleen Franca and I met over Zoom to chat about her latest show at Bowery Gallery. Though the focus of our discussion was on several individual works that she was planning on including in the show, the conversation expanded beyond the works, themselves. We talked about her decision making while painting, the differences in the experiences of painting the landscape versus still life, and how she sifts through all of her work in order to curate a complete, cohesive body of work.

Eileen: So now here's a question that every artist grapples with: When you look at all of the work you have done since your last show, I think you said at one point that it was about 50ish, paintings, how do you know which ones really feel like they deserve a spot in the show?

Colleen: I think that there's a certain sense of completeness to them, where I don't think I'd work on them again. Whereas some of the other ones, I could probably pick it up and keep going. So that's one thing. If I get the impression from looking at each work, where I feel that it's complete, it's balanced and it gives me a sense that I got where I wanted to go with the painting. I change my paintings a lot, so it is typical for me to look at a piece that might look done, but then I will decide that I have to change something and rework it. I do that a lot. And so, some of my still lifes I'm looking at, if I’m still asking these questions about the objects or the composition, then it's got more possibility to it. It’s not quite locked in.

Eileen: Yes, so when you see too many possibilities, they seem like they're maybe too in flux.

Colleen: Yes. So right now, I have all of them hanging in my studio. When I walk in, I say, “Alright, which ones are speaking to me?” 

Eileen: Yep.

Colleen: And then I will have a friend come, who is a second set of eyes, to help me sift through the rest and say, Okay, knowing the 20 paintings I already am set on, what will be the other 10 or 12 pieces that I'm putting in?

Eileen: Yes.

Colleen: Actually, here’s an interesting thing that is affecting my choices. I'm having a poetry reading at the closing. My neighbor, who is an amazing poet and the chair of the poetry department at The New School, came over the other day and she wanted to see my work, because she said she might write about it a little bit, maybe write a poem about one.

Eileen: Oh my goodness. How wonderful.

Colleen: So when she came in, I was really curious as to which ones she would be most drawn to. And she took three or four different photos. Of course, I noted which ones she took pictures of, and thought that maybe those should definitely go on the show. Honestly, there's only one out of the 4 pictures she took that I was uncertain about putting in, anyway. 

Eileen: Awesome. Thank you for all of this. I think it’s helpful to hear background about the artists. But it’s also interesting to hear about the process that artists go through to curate their shows. My guess is that people who are not artists might be a little surprised by what we do to prepare for shows. So thank you for all of this! I thought maybe we could talk about a few of your individual works.

Colleen: Okay great.

Eileen: I'd love to hear you talk about this piece.

View from Greve in Chianti, 2024, oil on canvas, 10 ¼ x 13 ½ inches.

Colleen: Yes! So this was done last year.

Eileen: What's this one called?

Colleen: It's called View From La Macina. That's was painted at a residency I went on last year. in Greve in Chianti, Italy. This is the view from the garden that was attached to the house, and I would paint there everyday, so I did a lot of versions of this view. One of the paintings I actually sent off to be in a show of Italian landscapes in Philadelphia. The one that I sent is a little bit more detailed. I kind of defined the shapes and trees a little more. But with this one, when I got back home and looked at it, I didn’t like it. So I continued to work on it in the studio, which is actually really rare for me to do. I rarely ever work on a landscape when I'm not in front of it. But I decided to go for it. And I just started mixing colors and feeling it. I wanted to get this cool, misty kind of landscape, because that's what would happen in the morning. This air, the dew from the night, would kind of evaporate, and you get this very smoky, foggy kind of atmosphere. So that's what I was after in this one and I was pleased with it, because, you know, it's kind of abstract, in a way, because I kind of had to make it up from memory.

Eileen: Interesting.

Colleen: Even though that's important to me, and I do love perceptual painting, I realized this decision was a little different for me–it’s a different direction. 

Eileen: But, it is from your memory.

Colleen: It is, it is. And I did look at photos, but it clearly doesn't look like a photo. I'd refer to the photo, just to check on some part then I'd go back to painting. 

Eileen: For sure. It just helps you to keep the idea in your mind. It makes sense to have the photo there.

Colleen: Yes.

Eileen: Whenever I look at a photo, I often remember why I took the picture–because I loved the color, or the complexity of the scene, or some sort of juxtaposition. But the photo, itself doesn't really capture those colors, and completely loses the sense of space and contrast that I liked so much in real life. Looking back on a photo always disappoints me, if my intention is to try to see what was exciting to me in real life. In a way, a photo could be used as a starting point for invention–to insight your memory, you might think, “Wow these colors are so dull compared to what was it was actually like,” so as artists, we are left to negotiate the dialectic between the static, faulty photograph and the rich memory of the moment of being there. Realizing maybe how much brighter that orange of the brick was, or how blue the trees looked in the fog, etc., is maybe how and why it is okay to use a photograph, despite being a perceptual painter. And so you're only really using it as a reference–to help refer back to the memory of the experience that the photo really did not capture. And especially since you already started with the painting, the photo is just there as an additional reference point.

Colleen: Absolutely. Yes! And then we're dealing with formal color concerns–cool, warm balances. You don't really think of that when you're taking a photo. But when you're making a painting, you are. You’re wondering what you will put next to this color that's going to make it sing.

Eileen: Yes!

Colleen: I was very aware of the cool, warm kind of thing. Usually I'm heavy on the warm, and then I put in cools, but this one was primarily a cool painting, with dabs of warm because of that atmosphere. You know, that’s the thing that I wanted.

Eileen: Definitely. I'm really into capturing that atmosphere. I'm just really, really loving the paint handling here. And how loose it is.

Colleen: Thank you. I love loose paintings and the landscapes are freeing me a bit. 

Eileen: Me too. I feel the exact same way in my own work, because you know, I love painting still life, as well. You know, I do try to keep it open–like in a Ruth Miller painting. She’s one of my favorite painters.

Colleen: I love her work.

Eileen: Yeah, so you know on the one hand, I like to keep my paintings open. But sometimes I end up closing them too much. Plein air painting really forces you to try to operate in the moment, for the sake of the moment, to just get it in–before the sun moves too far away, or before the clouds suddenly arrive. There's that sense of urgency and having to slap it down on the canvas.

Colleen: So true.

Eileen: It's just so vital, you know. But a still life, where the light is very controlled, allows you to sit with it longer, which has a beauty about it as well. That can really affect that sort of vitality, and you have to create the vitality in a different way.

Colleen: No, it's really interesting that you say that because it is a comfort to be in the studio. I mean, it's hard painting outside. You have to deal with bugs and people and all sorts of weather. It's not really that comfortable, and you can only do it for about 3 hour stints, right? But when I'm doing a still life, I'm in the studio and I’m physically comfortable. 

Eileen: Yes. All of that said, I do feel, though, that even with some controlled light, there's still a window nearby. And even if I have the blind drawn, that doesn't mean that light isn't still coming in. And there's always another window from another direction and the intensity of contrasts that might have been there earlier in the morning, have faded over time. There are still some of the elemental factors with still life painting that do require some kind of urgency.

Colleen: Well, absolutely.

Eileen: Nevertheless, it’s still easier to go back to still life multiple times.

Colleen: Oh, totally. These are either morning paintings or afternoon paintings. I cannot work on them at the same time, because that reflection in that pot, it is not going to be the same. This was an afternoon painting, so it's not the same, and if it's a cloudy day you're not going to get that sharp, you know reflection in there. You do have to pay attention to the light.

Colleen: Oh, thank you!

Eileen: I love that color in the background.

Colleen: It's my wall. It's this weird ochrey kind of color. That color appears in many of my still lifes. But it changes a lot. It ranges from very green to very orange to very yellow. It depends on the light. This color gets really hard to capture. Sometimes I mix, and mix, and mix and it’s still not right. Even below the handle, you see, it's kind of different.

Eileen: Yeah, a little bit lighter.

Colleen: Yes, so it's changing. I like to be aware of how the color is from left to right, and this one is pretty constant from left to right. But sometimes you're getting some really different, temperature or color changes.

Eileen: Yes, for sure. So now tell me about this one.

Maine Backyard, 2021, Oil on Canvas Board, 8x8 inches.

Eileen: Maine, right?

Colleen: Yes, For about 6 years in a row, we have been renting a cabin in Maine, in Brunswick, which was actually Lennart Anderson's place.

Eileen: Wow–it’s funny you say that because this piece actually reminds me of Lennart Anderson.

Colleen: I really felt like he was on my shoulder helping me when I was doing this painting. 

Eileen: Oh I love that!

Colleen: I just felt so secure when I was painting this–like I knew what to do. And you know, I'm always moving around the paint, feeling a little uncertain, not knowing what to do next. But with this one, I just knew that I had it. It's small, but it's one of my favorite paintings because of this whole sentiment. So this is looking towards his neighbor's yard. It's his side yard and I painted different versions of it, but this one, I think, came out really good if I do say so myself. I got a range of greens and hints of warm and I think it works.  

Eileen: It's a fabulous painting. I love it.

Colleen: Thank you.

Eileen: And it's been up on the gallery website.

Colleen: It has.

Eileen: I always look at this piece on the Bowery website, and I'm so glad that you're putting it in this show. I love it. I love this foliage. And it's just so sensitively painted. You could really get a feeling for the light. These subtle modulations in the foliage in those greens—I just can't get enough of it.

Colleen: It's funny because now that I look at it, it's a little reminiscent of the landscape I did in Italy that was in the studio. This one was completely from life. I did not mess with this one afterwards. So I was able to get that looseness and freedom just from looking at the subject. And I think that's why I like this so much.

Eileen: Yeah.

Colleen: That I achieved that freedom.

Eileen: That's it.

Colleen: Interesting, 

Eileen: It’s so nice to have these conversations because then we end up having these realizations.

Colleen: Yes, they really teach you something.

Eileen: So is this one from Italy?

Sunset, Portugal, 2018, Oil on Canvas, 7.5 x 11.5 inches

Colleen: Portugal actually.

Eileen: Okay. Yeah.

Colleen: Well.

Eileen: Say more about that.

Colleen: So both my husband and I went on a residency called Obras Foundation and they gave us a little house and there was this beautiful field behind our house, and I did a lot of painting there. One night towards dusk, the light was so beautiful that I just had to go paint it and I don’t usually paint sunsets but this one came very spontaneously and quick because sunsets fade fast! 

Eileen: Oh, great!

Colleen: You know, I just kind of furiously did it. And you know, I had it in a pile, and I wasn't going to show it. And then I found it. Do you see how it's got the drips on and everything? So I wondered if it was finished. You know? But then I looked at it. And I realized that it's got that essence that I'm going for. You know, this first sight of what you see when you look at a landscape. The feeling where it hits you, you know, like, “I gotta paint.” 

Eileen: I love this piece too.

Landscape, 2024, Greve, Oil on Wood, 8.5x16.5 inches

Colleen: Oh, thank you. Yeah, me too. This was funny. It was one of the first landscapes I did on my residency. And again, that view is from the garden at La Macina.

Eileen: I love the long rectangle.

Colleen: Me too. I love the shape of it. And I'm like, you know, I need something like this for a landscape. So I just painted directly on this piece of wood that I had found. I didn't do anything to it. It had been primed. I kind of just treated it almost like it was a watercolor. It's funny, because I did probably four versions of this painting, but this was the first one, and I don't think any of them got to the level of what I did here, and I worked on them a lot, and I don't even know if they're going in the show. 

Eileen: I totally get that. Sometimes you fuss and fuss and you can end up over-fussing. You want the painting to work so bad. I don't know if this was the first one you did, but you know somehow, when you enter it in a free kind of way, you capture it in a way that you're not going to again.

Colleen: Agree. I think I'm better when I'm quick, at least when I'm working with the landscape. Because the light was fading and even that part above the mountain. It definitely looks like a paint stroke. So I wondered if I should blend it. It looks painterly, but it kind of is a little bit abrupt. You wouldn't really see that in nature.

Eileen: I love parts of paintings where it's more about the artist’s brush strokes than the subject. “What is that? Why is that there?” I don't know what it is, but it makes sense, and that's all that matters. And it's just sort of about the mystery. Mystery is kind of a big thing for me.

Colleen: I know, I can tell from your work. I love that about your work, and I shoot for that as well. So I have an affinity with you in that you don't have to tell everybody everything. You know, they can figure it out.

Eileen: Yes, thank you. But, as for Lennart, this conversation reminds me of an essay in the book that goes along with his retrospective that has been traveling around the country. I saw that show when it traveled to Lyme Academy in Connecticut. Susan Jane Walp wrote the essay, and she talks about this one kind of sketch of his that she owns and there's some parts of the painting are really kind of vague, but it's perfect, because it evokes that kind of sort of mystery.

Colleen: Yes, the mystery. He was like the master of mystery.

Eileen: Indeed he was. What about this painting?

Still Life with Clock, 2024, Oil on Canvas Board, 10x12 inches.

Colleen: So first of all, I love a square format and this painting from the beginning was really fun to work on. Somehow, I feel more confident with squares. I don't know why. That pink cloth–you’ll see that in a lot of my paintings. I just love it. It just takes on so many different shapes. And I had this old clock laying around that we had. You know it doesn't work or anything but it's old and antique, and so I just plopped it in there. And again, I was loving the reflection thing going on. I do wonder if I could change the background a little. I'm not sure that I like all those stripes in the background. I don't know, but I didn't want to go all black in the upper, in the far right corner.

Eileen: I see.

Colleen: Because what’s back there is a desk that I almost wish that it wasn't there. I wish the still life was against the wall, but I put it in because I like the way the rose went against that color, and I so just played with it. So I guess it works in the end. I mean, the only thing I did was change the brown going across. Maybe that was better. But my husband said, “You know, it would be nice to put a little black on that edge.” So I tried it.

Eileen: The edge on the right?

Colleen: Yes. I think it's better because it balances that other black on the other side and that other black under the clock. So I think he was right. I think he had a good instinct about that.

Eileen: For sure. Also, I love the orange-to-dark-orange that’s interrupted by that vertical hit, that highlight streak that goes down the middle, and it intersects right where the rose hits the stem right there. Your compositional choices are just really interesting in this one. The way you’re breaking up the space, in a mathematical kind of way. There’s interesting points of intersection going on.

Colleen: Yeah, interesting. I love that because of course, we're always aware of the negative spaces that we're making. So for instance, the triangle below the flower–that was important to me.

Eileen: Yes. I also really love how we can barely see that the rose is in a cup at all. The only evidence of it is with the subtle refractions with the shape of the striped blanket and the edge of the cup. It's really nice.

Colleen: Yes, thank you.

Eileen: It's not like that area needs to be broken up anymore than it already is. There's already plenty of shapes going on just with the folds, alone, let alone the stripes in the cloth. But it's an interesting vertical. That vertical that's on the cup that's underneath the leaf–it harmonizes really nicely with the other, shorter verticals throughout. It's nice to kind of break up those diagonals with that sort of subtle reminder of the verticals in the rest of the composition.

Eileen: It's a great painting. I'm excited for your show!

Colleen: Thank you me, too. Now you're getting me excited.

Colleen Franca: Outside/Inside is on view from May 20 until June 14, 2025. The opening reception is on Thursday, May 22, 2025 from 5-8pm.