Interview:
Callum Francis
Art
No Order Magazine talks with the artist.
Callum Francis (B.1995) is an artist based in Brisbane, Australia. With a primary focus on abstract painting, his work is deeply reflective and contemplative. Callum has developed a studio practice exploring the symbiotic relationship of needing to paint to both adhere and define the human experience.
Working predominantly with abstraction, colour forms the foundation of Callum’s practice, engaging both expressive and representative qualities. Colour palettes are drawn from memory of a place, moment in time or a reactionary response to his surroundings. Callum articulates his experiences through a meditative process of assembling form, composition and line to enable a quality of understanding. Callum enables the viewer to absorb his paintings through the lens of lived experience, allowing individual perspective to take place, yet also providing the basis of reflection upon viewing.
Introduce yourself and tell us how did your career began?
My name is Callum Francis and I’m a Brisbane based artist primarily focused on painting. I was really into drawing and cartoons from a young age. That progressed to being interested in illustration in high school, and falling in love with painting. I felt I had no other alternative in life than to pursue painting, so I went on to study literature and art at university. During my studies I discovered the New York School of Abstraction in an art theory lecture, which really blew me away. It was so exciting; learning and seeing paintings by Rothko, Helen Frankenthaler, Lee Krasner, Clyfford Still, and Frank Stella. It was just awe inspiring. The experience of that lecture was life changing. It awakened an emotional response within me, to colour, which plays a pivotal role in my practice today. After university, I painted for myself until I felt ready to share the work. It was a daunting process to reveal who I was as an artist and a person. It’s really a journey of vulnerability opening up to the world to reveal the honesty in your existence. But it’s been incredibly rewarding. Ultimately, painting has given me my place in the world. I have nothing else, except to enjoy it.
Is your art personal to you?
My work is everything to me. It is an honest reflection of who I am and how I feel. As an artist I find myself incredibly receptive to my surroundings: how light hits objects, the colours in nature, and how things feel, look and live. Painting is an extremely meditative process where I reflect upon memories of a time, place, or particular emotional response. Within my work everything I experience emotionally is articulated through colour, form and line. My palettes are often drawn from significant feelings I’ve experienced in a setting or environment, in correlation with what I’m going through in life during that point in time. Colour is such a powerful component to our existence and can be brutally honest in evoking emotions. Painting ultimately allows me to breathe and understand the world, what it is to be human and how it feels to be alive.
Up Early, 2021
Here We Go Again, 2022
What is something you wish you knew at the beginning of your career?
To relax and understand that opportunity is presented to you when it is meant to be. Art is a lifelong journey, one to be celebrated and appreciated. I feel so fortunate that I am able to paint as much as I like; to explore what is to be alive and interact with the world, then reflect upon it in my studio.
Do you have any advice for artists navigating the digital world and how does social media influence your practice?
Primarily, for any practicing artist, their focus should be entirely consumed by their own work: developing, learning, and reflecting upon it. Spending time in my studio and immersing myself in painting enables me to exist as a human as well as to create opportunities tangibly in the real world. Being able to curate your practice online can be a great tool to share what you feel, and best reflect your work and art making process.
At first I was apprehensive to engage in social media, as it seemed too easy to be caught up in the hype of what others were doing or what was happening around me. Ultimately I didn’t want social media to have an influence over what I was painting or how I felt towards painting as a whole. That aside, moving forward, platforms like Instagram are a brilliant was to immerse yourself in art. It’s an incredibly valuable resource that when approached with the right balance, can be beneficial. It allows you to curate your work to its entirety, sharing as much or as little as you wish. Essentially you can build an online portfolio, to give a valuable insight into your practice, your studios, exhibitions, and the lineage of development within your work.
How do you go aboutgetting work and interacting with potential clients?
I am in a very fortunate position by being represented in Australia by Studio Gallery Group, so they handle everything to do with exhibiting, marketing, and selling my work. Kerry and the team are absolutely wonderful and work extremely hard, allowing me to paint freely in the studio.
What advice do you have for emerging artists?
Be honest with who you are, and enjoy the process of making work that comes from within that honesty. A life in art is incredibly enriching, give it the love it truly deserves and celebrate it.
Read the full interview in Issue 02
Published: 4th November 2022