THE FRANKO POP
A Warholistic Investigation Into Nostalgia, Popular Culture and Other Things That Probably Shouldn't Be Mixed Together 😆
Pop Art has always been the playground.
It is where old arcade games meet movie quotes and collide with Dolly Magazine corners.
The sort of things you haven't thought about for twenty years... until suddenly you have.
Some pieces are funny.
Some are personal.
Some are commissions built around family stories and life moments, with little nods to the things people love... favourite movies, cartoons, bands, brands, drinks, travel memories and all the other random bits and pieces that somehow become part of who we are.
Some of the gallery pieces are simply created because they make me smile... and I reckon they'll make a few other people smile too.
Over the years, I have spent countless thousands of hours creating Pop Art pieces that have left FrankoVille and found homes around the world.
Different subjects. Different stories. Different journeys.
Yet the characters, icons and memories we love somehow continue to cross generations, countries and cultures, tugging at the same nostalgic heart strings whether you're 25 or 75.
Create something that makes people stop, smile and remember something they forgot they loved.
COMMISSIONED POP ART — FAMILY STORIES, CHILDHOOD MEMORIES AND PURE CHAOS
Long before I became a full-time artist in 2009, I spent 18 years pushing a mouse around a computer screen in the apparel industry designing logos, branding, graphics and commercial artwork.
Looking back, I can see those years all through the Pop work.
Typography - Branding - Advertising - Visual Hierarchy - Layering - Colour - Noise - Balance.
The Urban Pop pieces often draw influence from the things we see every day... advertising, movies, gaming, music, logos, brands and popular culture. They are often built with layers of imagery, hidden details, typography, visual noise and occasional forms of brandalism to create something that feels a little like a laneway wall, a concert poster and a childhood memory all rolled into one.
The Classic Pop pieces often revolve around strong women, heroines, comic-inspired imagery, beauty, confidence and attitude.
Different visual language.
Same DNA.
Both are ultimately trying to do the same thing...
Drag you back into that nostalgic headspace for a little while.
A bit sexy sometimes.
A bit naughty.
A bit nostalgic.
And hopefully a few memories.
LOVE & SOURCERY — BOLD POP ART WITH ATTITUDE
CINEMATICA — MOVIES, MUSIC, MEMORIES AND MISCHIEF
What Makes A Franko Pop Artwork Different?
Most people assume Pop Art is flat.
That's probably because for decades much of the Pop Art people have encountered has been in the form of posters, prints and reproductions.
These aren't.
And of course, I will never sell prints.
Franko Urban Pop pieces are built through multiple layers of paint, acrylics, sprays, inks, stencils and surface treatments designed to create depth, detail and discovery.
The longer you spend with them, the more they reveal.
Movie references - Hidden jokes - Gaming memories - Advertising slogans - Visual noise - Colour relationships - Texture.
Layer upon layer of little discoveries.
They reward curiosity as more details seem to reveal themselves over time.
A character you missed.
A reference tucked away in a corner.
Something you swear wasn't there the first time you looked.
The longer you spend with them, the more they seem to give back.
Franko Classic Pop pieces tend to focus more on heroines, strong women and characters that seem to carry entire stories behind their eyes.
Then there is that little comic corner.
Just a hint of the scene.
A single sentence or two, sometimes three.
A fragment of a story.
You've arrived somewhere in the middle.
The beginning and the ending are entirely up to you.
Different visual language.
Same objective.
Create something that has LIFE.
Why Pop Art Connects With People
I think the answer is simple.
Memory.
We all carry around little fragments of our lives.
Favourite movies - Music - TV shows - Characters - Games - Places - People - Stories.
Pop Art gives those memories somewhere to live.
The best pieces seem to transport people back into a nostalgic headspace they didn't even realise they still carried around.
People often point at a Pop piece and immediately begin telling stories.
That's when I know it's working.
Pop Art Is Not Dead
Pop Art has always been a bit of the black sheep of the art world.
There is a stigma it just can't seem to shake.
When galleries, publishers and curators assemble books, exhibitions and collections, the cover is often awarded to a landscape, a figurative work or something considered a little more traditional.
That's why I was genuinely surprised when Art Lovers Australia selected one of my Space Pop artworks for the cover of their 2024 Collectors Book.
Featuring artists represented by the platform, the publication showcases contemporary Australian art and is distributed to art buyers and collectors around Australia.
Not because it was my artwork...Because it was Pop Art. 😆
A comic-inspired heroine.
A bold, unapologetically Pop piece that sold at the gallery within hours of release.
A work built around vintage aesthetics, storytelling and emotion. The comic corner on the actual painting set the scene to the single tear...
"As the invasion began, I knew my life would never be the same again..."
For me, it was a reminder that Pop Art continues to resonate because it taps into something deeply human.
Memories - Characters - Stories - Moments - Nostalgia.
And occasionally a touch of melancholy.
The things we carry with us long after childhood ends.
Maybe that's why people still connect with these works.
And despite predictions of its demise for decades...
Pop Art is not dead.
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ART LOVERS AUSTRALIA 2024 COLLECTORS BOOK COVER — FEATURING A FRANKO SPACE POP ARTWORK
Fight Like A Girl
People occasionally ask why strong female characters appear so often throughout my Pop work.
The answer is simple.
There is a phrase often associated with weakness.
"Fight like a girl."
It always makes me laugh.
Nobody fights like a girl.
Ships and boats have traditionally been named after women for a reason. Sailors viewed them as protective figures carrying them safely through the dangers of the sea, naming them after wives, mothers, goddesses and women they admired.
The strongest force known to mankind?
It's Mother Nature.
What does Father do?
He just keeps time.
Strength looks different on women.
It's not always loud.... It's not always physical.
Sometimes it's resilience.... Sometimes it's determination.
Sometimes it's simply refusing to take a backward step when the easier option would be to do exactly that.
I've always been drawn to characters who seem capable of changing the direction of the story simply by walking into the scene.
In the world of Franko... it's a comic heroine, a geisha, Rosie The Riveter, a futuristic space girl or somebody completely imagined, the common thread is always strength.
In Hollywood it's Ripley, Trinity, Beth Dutton, Furiosa and Sarah Connor.
They stay with us.
Not because they're perfect.
Because they're unforgettable.
Alt text locked: Shaynna Blaze with Franko's Rosie The Riveter artwork during an International Women's Day feature.
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY — SHAYNNA BLAZE WITH HER FRANKO
"I adore my Rosie by Franko, she gives me strength and sass every time I walk past her."— Shaynna Blaze
SPACE GIRL VIBEN — RETRO FUTURE POP ART
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FIRST EVER POP ART SALE — MARILYN
Why Original Pop Art Matters
Pop Art is probably the easiest genre in the world for people to dismiss.
"It's just comics."
"It's just cartoons."
"It's just pop culture."
These days, it's also one of the easiest styles for people to assume was created by AI, and I find that genuinely sad for the trailblazing Pop Artists that came before me.
But there is a world of difference between generating an image and creating a painting.
To me, the AI conversation feels a little like the modern version of the print conversation. 🤮
Franko pieces are built layer by layer.
Paint - Texture - Mistakes - Adjustments - Discovery - Learning.
Thousands of decisions made in the mind and enacted by human hand.
Some of these ideas have been floating around my head for decades. In fact, I still have three Redleaf notebooks simply titled Ideas 1, Ideas 2 and Ideas 3, started circa 2009.
Today's Frankos have evolved through thousands of paintings and countless hours in the studio.
Long before AI existed and long before social media existed.
And interestingly, the very first painting I ever sold wasn't an abstract at all.
It was Pop Art.
Wholy Dooley things have tightened up since then. 😆
Like Franko Abstracts, every piece is created with its own identity.
Even when subject matter is shared, they evolve with:
Different text - Different hair - Different eyes - Different layout - Different dimensions - Different texture - Different title - Different journey.
The same way no two people are ever exactly the same.
That's the beauty of original art.
The idea might begin in a familiar place...
But the destination is always somewhere new.
POP ART AT SCALE — THOUSANDS OF DETAILS, THOUSANDS OF DECISIONS AND NOT A SINGLE SHORTCUT
Commissioning Custom Pop Art
Pop Art is probably the most personal style I create... and I LOVE them. ❤️
Family stories - Childhood memories - Favourite movies - Music - Gaming - Travel - Pets - Inside jokes - Life moments.
A client's email arrives with a bucketload of precious memories and six weeks later a freshly baked Franko arrives at their home that becomes a NEW part of their story moving forwards.
Commissions become a journey for me as well.
Captain Planet, SteelWill, Super Ted, Snorks and Mega Man (to name a few) were never really known to me until clients introduced them as childhood favourites and asked for them to be woven into a Franko.
Then there was the time I was commissioned to create a massive Pop/Realism interpretation of The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover.
I spent days researching the original cover, gathering every single one of the individual reference images and learning about the people who appeared in it, the people who were invited and then weren't, and the stories behind one of the most iconic album covers ever created.
The client also requested a few additions that were definitely not part of the original... including Jesus, Donald Trump and Where's Wally. 😆
Looking back now, it remains one of the most educational (and detailed) commissions I have ever undertaken.
It also serves as photographic evidence that I once had considerably less grey hair than I do today.
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SGT. PEPPER REIMAGINED — ONE OF THE MOST EDUCATIONAL COMMISSIONS I HAVE EVER CREATED
Frequently Asked Questions
Are all Pop Art paintings original?
Yes.
Every Pop Art piece on this website is an original artwork created by Franko.
Like Franko Abstracts, every piece is created with its own identity.
Even when subject matter is shared, they evolve with different text, different hair, different eyes, different layout, different dimensions, different texture, different title and ultimately a different journey.
The same way no two people are ever exactly the same.
That's the beauty of original art.
The idea might begin in a familiar place...
But the destination is always somewhere new.
And of course, there are no prints.
Do you sell prints?
No.
I've always felt that if somebody purchases an original painting, they deserve to own that original without cheaper reproductions appearing elsewhere.
Personally, I would feel a little ripped off if I bought an original artwork and later discovered the artist was selling prints of it.
That's just my view.
So for now, it's originals only.
Maybe one day I might create a range specifically designed as prints...
But they won't be copies of existing Frankos.
Can I commission a personal Pop Art piece?
Absolutely.
In fact, Pop Art is probably the most personal style I create.
Many commissions include family stories, childhood memories, favourite movies, music, gaming references, travel experiences, pets, inside jokes and all sorts of little details that mean something to the client.
We can have a catch up with a conversation, text or email about your Franko before pulling the trigger.
You bring the memories.
I'll bring the paint. 😆
Can you include family stories and memories?
Absolutely.
In fact, that's often where the best commissions begin.
Favourite movies, cartoons, pets, sayings, memories, numbers, places, words, icons, brands, food, drinks, music, cars... the list goes on and on.
The possibilities are almost endless.
The challenge is usually deciding what not to include. 😆
Over the years I have hidden family members inside space helmets, transformed clients into superheroes, changed comic characters to resemble real people and built entire artworks around personal stories.
I've created commissions featuring soldiers, racing car drivers, ninjas, K-Pop idols, singers, cars and just about everything in between.
Urban Pop commissions are often built around memories and personal references.
Classic Pop commissions can be almost anything you can imagine.
If you've got an idea, chances are we can make it happen.
Do you create custom superhero, music, movie or gaming commissions?
Absolutely.
Movies, gaming, music and popular culture have been woven through my Pop Art for many years.
Some commissions are subtle.
Some are completely over the top.
I've painted everything from childhood cartoons and superheroes through to movie themes, music icons, gaming references and entire worlds built around a client's favourite memories.
And no... you don't need to limit yourself to one theme either.
Or one painting.
Let's do a bunch. 😆
What is the difference between Urban Pop and Classic Pop?
Urban Pop tends to lean into nostalgia, gaming, movies, music, typography, brandalism and layers of discovery.
These pieces often have a street-art influence with lots and lots going on.
Classic Pop pieces are generally cleaner and less cluttered.
They are more akin to a single frame from a comic book, expressing one central idea or emotion, often supported by a little comic text box that helps play into the storyline.
These works frequently focus on strong women, heroines, romance, comic-inspired imagery and storytelling, although over the years I have painted a huge variety of subjects and themes.
Different visual language.
Same DNA. 😄
Do you ship internationally?
Yes. Franko artworks have been shipped to clients across Australia and around the world.
Each piece is professionally packed, tracked and insured, with everything handled carefully from the studio end before it leaves FrankoVille.
Are paintings framed?
Most artworks are created on stretched canvas and arrive ready to hang.
Many pieces can also be finished in a custom oak float frame made right here in the studio, including natural oak, black oak or white oak depending on the artwork.
How do I choose the right size Pop Art piece?
If you're unsure, send through a photo of your space and I can help with scale, colour and sizing.
Large Pop Art often works best when it has room to breathe and enough wall space to make the impact it deserves.
The Franko Pop
Explore Urban Pop, Classic Pop, commissions and all currently available originals.
Don't be Vanilla. 😆