Portraits are often failed descriptions that can be deceiving.
When artist Anthony Francis looks at some of the photos in his exhibition “Outside Portrayal” at Midland College, there’s a lot of “encoding.”
“These photographs have been photos that I’ve been working on for about roughly five years,” Francis said. “They’re these expressions and they’re autonomous and I’m thinking about the boundaries of a portrait in some ways and how in some ways, they challenge the ideas of a linear description.”
The artist, teacher, filmmaker has a few of his works currently on display at Midland College’s McCormick Gallery.
The photos are a part of the gallery’s spring exhibition which will be on display until April 14.
Francis is a multifaceted visual artist filmmaker and writer who also teaches photography at Texas State University in San Marcos.
After receiving his English degree and going on to earn a master’s in education from The George Washington University, he studied at the Academy of Art University to gain a master’s in Fine Arts with a concentration in photography.
Recently, he’s been busy with photography and filmmaking.
“I’ve been making some short films that really deal with the same idea,” Francis said. “Like the frame and the boundaries of not just portraits but photography, specifically a conversation about photographing portraits.”
He hopes people take time to really look at each image in his exhibition.
“The idea of encoding is that what it forces the viewer to do is explore their own access to the work,” Francis said. “I’m hoping people find their way into the work in whatever way possible. I find that the work can be challenging in that sense because a lot of time people want access to be given to them whereas I think art is added best when you’re finding your way into the work and finding what the human connection is in all the work.”
He has other projects that he is currently working on as well.
“The most pressing issue is a publication that I’ve been working on,” Francis said. “It is a larger body of work that deals like with this work… there’s a lot of work right now that I’m producing and being able to print and frame and show so I’m grateful for that. But I also want people to be able to deal with these images on their own so there’s a book project that I’m working on as well.”
Director Michael Hubbard talked about the excitement of teaming up with Francis for this unique exhibition.
“I think the portraits just have so much presence and personalities to each one,” Hubbard said. “In this big, open space, they just each hold their own and hold your attention and they’re very engaging to me.”
This is the first exhibition that Francis has had at Midland College.
“The process has been great,” Francis said. “I have to commend Michael Hubbard for handling things while we chose the layout. He handled the installation very well and I appreciate it. It’s been great as an artist to work with him.”
The McCormick Gallery hours are 8 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday-Thursday and 8 a.m.-5 p.m. on Fridays.
For more information, go to tinyurl.com/m8ahswxr.
If you go
>> What: Anthony Francis — Outside Portrayal.
>> Where: McCormick Gallery at Midland College.
>> When: Open now-April 14.
>> On the net: tinyurl.com/m8ahswxr
