About
Artist Bio
Carly França (b. 1985, San Diego, CA) is a Pasadena-based artist whose work explores survival, transformation, and the shifting nature of what we hold onto and what we let go. Equal parts Californian, Idahoan, and Brazilian, her practice is shaped by early medical trauma, visible scars, queerness, and the experience of losing her home and studio in a 2025 fire. Working with paint, charcoal, and mixed media, Carly embraces a process-driven approach rooted in gestural spontaneity and improvisation.
Her work resists erasure, instead layering form over uncertainty—mirroring her lived belief that what changes us can also shape us. Carly’s art makes space for impermanence, visibility, and the beauty of becoming.
She has exhibited at the Benton Museum of Art at Pomona College, Art Share LA, Pasadena City College, and the California State San Bernardino Anthropology Museum. She was awarded the 2025 Ellsworth Artist Residency at Art Share LA and received support from the LA Arts Community Fire Relief Fund.
Exhibitions
2025 Line, Smudge, Shade: Contemporary Drawing in our Los Angeles Benton Museum Pomona, CA
2024 Pasadena City College Annual Juried Student Exhibition, Pasadena CA
2024 Nature’s Pulse, Art Share LA, Los Angeles CA
2023 Afróntalo, California State San Bernardino Anthropology Museum, San Bernardino, CA
2004 John Jellico Gallery - Denver, CO
Residencies
2025 Ellsworth Artist Residence, Art Share LA, Los Angeles
Artist Statement
I make work that begins in uncertainty—gestures that are intuitive, raw, and evolving. Whether with charcoal, acrylic, or found materials, my process resists erasure. Instead, I build on what’s there. A mark that feels unresolved becomes something to respond to, not remove. This is how I’ve learned to live—with scars, with loss, with change.
Born with medical conditions that left visible facial scars, I grew up queer in conservative Idaho, constantly navigating how others saw me and how I saw myself. In 2025, I lost my home and studio in a fire. These ruptures are part of my life and my work, which grapples with questions that never fully resolve: What do we keep? What do we rebuild? What becomes part of us when we stop trying to fix and start letting things evolve?
My practice embraces impermanence, beauty in flux, and a deep respect for death—not in fear, but as a companion to transformation. Each piece becomes a record of what survives and what changes us.
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Yes, reach out to me via the contact form with your concept.
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Absolutely, reach out to me directly if you are interested in a specific work, I can send you a price sheet.
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Absolutely, send me an email, let’s get coffee.
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Yes, I am okay and happy to talk about the fire in any capacity whether you went through it too, or you are curious about the first hand experience. Grief is a process, sharing it is part of it.