We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Frank Hadzima. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Frank below.

Frank, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

When I was a teenager I became obsessed with academic modes of depiction… Like the stuff that comes out of painting ateliers. I took a two year college prep studio class with my goal being to go to college for painting. I think my main take away from that period of my life was learning self discipline which prepared me for the workload that came with getting my undergraduate degree. Once I was in college I learned to talk about paintings just as much as I learned how to make them. Above all, just making art constantly is the main way that I learned how to paint the way that I do.

In hindsight I think I could’ve relaxed a bit, not taken everything I made so seriously and approached art with a more open mind. Learning skill is important (to me), sure, but so is having fun. Recently I’ve realized that humor has always been really important to my practice and only now am I really embracing it. I think if I realized that sooner I wouldn’t have doubted myself so much along the way if that makes sense.

That said, I am happy that I forced myself to sit down and learn the really boring academic stuff related to figure painting and portraiture. Having such a formal understanding of that stuff lets the humor of my work land in a really specific way that I love.

Like I said before, I kind of had a stick up my butt regarding what “Real Art” was. It was honestly a detriment to my capacity to appreciate all forms of contemporary art and understand where my own work fit into it.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’m a recent graduate from The Cleveland Institute of Art’s painting program. I make paintings documenting contemporary online spaces. This usually means that I’m painting people doing weird things that you often only find online. I can’t get away from painting people, trust me I’ve tried…

These paintings are almost always made with humor in mind. Even if other people don’t think it’s funny I do because I got them to stare at a painting of some random guy filming himself in a bath tub or something equally as odd. The juxtaposition between academically skilled modes of depiction coupled with such weird contemporary imagery is something that I just can’t get enough of. As weird as these subjects are I do think that they act like mirrors in some way. That’s why I feel it’s okay to find humor in these paintings because we’re all just as weird in one way or another. There’s a lot of beauty in that I think.

That makes for a good segway to my YouTube channel actually. Towards the end of 2022 I started posting regularly to YouTube. This was in the form of awkward vlogs about my career and poorly planned sketchbook tours. This was all purposely presented in this way to heighten the fact that I’m just a guy with a camera in his basement presenting himself earnestly on the internet for the approval of others. It doesn’t matter how awkward it is, if anything it adds to the humor. I also think it’s funny to call this a performance practice because of how silly it is. There we go again, circling back around to humor.

It is really important to me that people understand that I’m just as much a part of the weird internet zeitgeist as the people in my paintings are. I am not doing this to make fun of them, if anything I’m making fun of myself.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

Maybe this is silly, but I regret not attending more local gallery openings sooner. I try to attend them regularly now and it’s so wonderful getting to be a part of such a community but I really wish I hadn’t waited so long. I started going to them regularly only about a year and a half ago and already I feel so much more connected to the art community in Cleveland.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

For me it’s getting to see people’s reactions to my work. It’s often laughter (either genuine or uncomfortable) or I’m met with confusion as to why I’d wat to “waste” my skills on a painting like that. What’s fun is that both of them can lead to a conversation about why I do what I do.

I also love the process of painting. Getting to construct an image with paint is so rewarding in itself it’s almost addictive.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://frankhadzima.com
• Instagram: @franken_fruit
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@frankhadzima1749