We were lucky to catch up with Dellis Frank recently and have shared our conversation below.

Dellis, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

I feel the most meaningful project I’ve worked on is my social justice/social commentary series. I am a mixed race person that self-identifies as Black. Even though I have had a fortunate life, I experience the disparities in the Black and Brown communities through the work I’ve done as part of the Los Angeles Unified School District. It is important to me that through my artistic practice I stimulate critical conversations. I question why we are still battling so many injustices after decades of fighting against these various issues. There are too many systemic problems to whitewash them away.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I have been a creative as far back as I can remember. Whether it was being on stage as Tigger in a Whinnie The Poo play as a kid, or as an extra in a “B” movie titled “To Sleep with Anger” starring Danny Glover, singing with the Walter Arties Chorale to exhibiting nationally and internationally my fine art, I have always loved the Arts. Winning awards and recognition is a wonderful feeling but I think I am most proud of the work I do to educate, enlighten and stimulate people about issues that are important to me. Those issues can include environmental (the man made problems), social disparities, and racial injustice. Environmental problems, which is the foundation of my practice, is where I begin the majority of my work. I use found objects, recycled and repurposed items to keep them out of the landfill. I have coined the phrase The Greening of Fine Art as a description of my practice.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

Throughout time art has been used to distill issues that concern us. Because of current and not so current events that highlight the injustices and unequal treatment of communities of color, organizations have been coming together to spotlight these issues. One such organization is Art Against Racism. Some of my work can be seen on their website as well as an interview I did with them.

“Art Against Racism is creating an international community of bold creatives, arts administrators, community organizations and activists dedicated to anti-racist social change.
Through The Arts, We Educate and Inspire Communities to Eradicate Racism and Create an Anti-Racist Society.”

What drives my work is that I strive to foster conversations about social injustice, policies, practices, and laws that are meant to undercut opportunities. For over four hundred years people in this country have been discriminated against, tortured, bullied, and killed. This kind of systemic racism, for this long, leads to “Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome” and can manifest in various ways.

Of course, It’s Never Just Black and White but Black Lives do Matter. From having to have THE TALK with our young boys making them grow up oh too fast to seeing the Tears of Black Folk we need to Close the Door on Hate and do something about this unequal justice. I’ve seen exhibitions from my youth dealing with the same issues. It’s time for a change. All Black folk are saying is SEE ME as the same as you see yourself, a person. The reason some words have been capitalized seemingly inappropriately, is because these are just a few of the titles of my pieces that I expect will stimulate those critical conversations that are severely needed.

Can you share your view on NFTs? (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)

Okay, I’ve received so many emails, telephone calls and questions about NFTs. For those that don’t know what it really stands for it is non-fungible tokens. my usual response to them is that my kind of art does not lend itself to this form of monetization.

My work is tactile, and sometimes requires thought and an opinion. I will however, freely admit that I don’t really know enough about this new craze to say too much about it. But since you asked I’ll just say a couple of things. It feels to me like it is a new way to sell a bridge in the desert. Unless you already have a brand, money or some other gimmick you’re not going to get rich with this system. It also feels to me like those that have the skill and unsavory intent can scam you before you even know what happened. I don’t think it is a good idea to spend money on a link to prove you own something online.

There are too many variables, the kind that can go very, very wrong. Enter hackers. Art, to me, is not something to be simply owned, but enjoyed. It is something to stimulate you, comfort you, push you or help clarify things for you. If there were some useful service or function that you were buying by all means go for it. But for me and my art, no thank you.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://dellisfrank.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DellisFrankTheArtist
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dellis-frank-b765a412/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/defStyles

Image Credits
Photos by Bryan Frank