Ian Francis lives and works in Bristol, United Kingdom.
Born 1979

Ian Francis has often been described as being one of the pioneers shaping the urban movement coming out of the UK scene late 2000s.
Together with artists like Conor Harrington and Chloe Early, who were informed by the urban scene without being bound by it, they contributed to shaping a new urban expression where they were inspired by the urban street art scene but more involved in bridging the gap between Fine Arts painting and new urban movements.

Ian Francis is a British mixed-media artist, whose paintings, inspired by the visual style of modern computer games, often depict violent, urban scenes. Ian Francis was raised in Bristol in the west of England. His desires and aspirations were always aimed towards art and creativity since his early childhood years. After finishing high school, Francis enrolled into the University of the West of England with a goal to get a degree in fine arts.

Highly detailed, Ian Francis’ art is a mixture of abstraction and figuration, composed by the elements of both painting and drawing. Multi-layered and highly contrasted, Ian Francis’ paintings generate a feeling of a seemingly multi-dimensional platform with blackness and empty space surrounding the portrayed scenes and characters. As a mixed-media artist, Ian Francis uses a range of mediums – from acrylic and oil to charcoal and ink – to create his distinct, contemporary works.
Although he predominantly uses oil on panel, Ian Francis favours the catch-all nature of mixed media as a description for his process.
Using the ability to create multilayered expressions in Photoshop as a starting point to more quickly outline an idea for a painting, the process might go back and forth, from screen to panel and back again, taking photos of the painting along the way and put them back in the computer trying out more ideas for composition or palette.

Apart from his unique visual style, another thing that makes Ian Francis’ art stand out from others is how the artist is noted for his use of gels to create a high contrast flat finish that imitates the effect of a high definition monitor or glossy paper used for magazines.

EDUCATION

2001 BA, University of the West of England, UK