Franklin Ackerley hasn’t been seen in public since 1997. Since then, his whereabouts have been a matter of conjecture, with apocryphal accounts recently placing him in, among other places, Wichita, Kansas; Fallon, Nevada; Truth and Consequences, New Mexico; and even Split, Croatia. What Is known, is that every once in a long while, Ackerley sends a package of new work to his friend, Texas artist, Jeff F. Wheeler with instructions to find a location to exhibit the work.
A series of work Ackerley created during his Pandemic Lockdown on the Adriatic Coast near Split, Croatia. This work is typical of his style. That is, the drawings portray a visual schizophrenia, with seemingly (at least) two distinct stylistic personalities clashing in these dynamic, pop-inflected compositions. Here we see varied influences from mod-fashion models to vacant Texas Landscapes, scattered with text that only complicates their meaning. His drawings are enigmatic, averse to revealing themselves, like the artist himself. In this way, they are timely and welcome against our rush to expose every detail to stultifying scrutiny.
