Frank Wesley (1958- ) was born in Nashville, Tennessee and came of age in Memphis, Tennessee during the tumultuous days of the civil rights movement. On a late teenage return to Memphis, he was beaten by a group of policeman with nightsticks in the Memphis jail. Given no quarter for his confused mental state, he was finally taken in shackles to a hospital after found en grande Mal in solitary confinement. His road to recovery has been perilous, potholed with bipolar disorder and epilepsy since.
Wesley returned to Western Kentucky University and began to study Art and Philosophy, having existential questions on the meaning of life. With premonitions or auras, and partial states of consciousness, normally unexplored areas of his mind were revealed. He studied art movements that looked strongly to the unconscious. Alongside his life, with therapy and medications, his art process brings about the art object with an awareness of an increasingly uncertain world.
Education
1987 MFA in Painting, School of the Art Institute of Chicago (Studied under Theodore Halkin)
1984 BFA in Fine Art (Emphasis Painting) Western Kentucky University (Studied under Walter Stomps)
Publications
2018, Rhythm and Rush, GfG+S, Published by Extended Play
Exhibitions
2023 Winter Juried Exhibition, Artworksbg, Feb.3-March 10, The Robert and Pat Goodwin Gallery, SKYPAC, Bowling Green, KY
2022, 14th AnnualMembers-Only Juried Exhibition, Artworksbg, SKYPAC, Bowling Green, KY
2022, All Kentucky Juried Exhibition at Downing Museum sponsored by Artworksbg, Bowling Green, Kentucky
2022, Visiting Artist, Window Gallery, July 19-September 24, Downing Museum, Bowling Green, KY A Night of Art Fundraiser Auction for HOTEL INC, April 28, Downing Museum, Bowling Green, KY 2022, Artworksbg Group Spring Show, April 1-30, SKYPAC, Bowling Green, KY 2022, Celebration of the Arts Exhibit, Kentucky Museum, W.K.U. campus, Bowling Green, KY 2022, Artworksbg Group Winter Show, February 1-March 11, SKYPAC, Bowling Green, KY
2021, Jerry E. Baker and Jack Lunt Memorial Art Exhibition, All a Flutter-1st Place, Downing Museum, Bowling Green,KY, Juror- Tiffany Calvert 2021 Bowling Green International Festival Virtual Art Show https://www.bginternationalfest.com/virtual-art-show/2021-art-show/
2020-21 One Person Show, Preservation Tasting Room& Bottle Shop,Bowling Green, Kentucky, 42101
2020 USBank Celebration of the Arts, Kentucky Museum, W.K.U. campus, Bowling Green, Kentucky 2020 Western Kentucky University Art Alumni Show, FAC Galleries,Bowling Green, Kentucky