'Painting Out Loud' with Ruth Franklin

Ruth Franklin isn't trying to make art that is trendy or pretty. Every day (including weekends & most holidays), she arrives at her studio before dawn with a singular goal: to make a good painting. She has the inexhaustible & highly self-disciplined work ethic of a soldier (her father was a D-day veteran!). She doesn't require any creature comforts beyond a thermos of coffee and a pack of cigarettes. When Franklin is at her easel, she enters a zenlike state and exhibits a monomaniacal determination. Her pictures, whether created with charcoal, pastels or paint, are always discernable & distinctive. In short, Ruth Franklin is the real deal.

Her current show at steve mckenzie's includes 20 new paintings & charcoal drawings.

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Show info & rsvp

“Paint is such a lovely medium, it’s a shame to ignore the possibilities that pushing it around can create. 

Recognizing the possibilities is the trick”
- Ruth Franklin

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It's been awhile since Ruth Franklin has exhibited a large body of work in Atlanta. Beyond a handful of pop-up shows, and MOCA GA's Georgia Artists Selecting Georgia Artists in 2013, she's mostly shown outside of Georgia: a group show in Nashville (she has a following in the country music world, with members of Lady Antebellum, Sugarland and the Judds among her collectors), the Harlem Fine Arts Show in New York & the RAW Art Fair in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Nevertheless, she was still voted 'Best Established Visual Artist' in Atlanta by the readers of Creative Loafing last year.

Steve Mckenzie has admired & collected Ruth's work for over 20 years, beginning when he was CEO of custom framing behemoth Larson-Juhl. In addition to acquiring works for their corporate collection, he chose Ruth's art to feature when Larson-Juhl started an ad campaign in Architectural Digest & Elle Decor magazines, et. al. 

As a fellow painter and friend, Ruth didn't hesitate to say yes to an exhibition at Steve's new space in the Westside Design District (next door to Miller Union & around the corner from Kai Lin Art). Her pictures are displayed there in a way that makes it easy to imagine living with them in your home, surrounded by Steve Mckenzie's own textile designs, custom-designed products, fine French furniture and handmade pieces by Southern artisans. 

When asked about the old adage "fine art doesn't have to match your sofa", Ruth says "good art matches the sofa better than bad art - and anyway, some people have very nice sofas...".

show info & rsvp

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