Josh Franco: FERAL (A History of Art)

Public Lecture 

September 22, 2026, 5:30 pm (Wilson Hall – Concert Hall)

About the Exhibition

Artist Josh T Franco first entered art history through an AP course in high school, eventually earning a doctorate in the discipline. His ongoing participation in the field includes making works for museum and gallery spaces while also producing scholarship for publications and lectures. Franco considers making in the studio as research equivalent with time spent in the field, with primary sources in archives and museums, and reading secondary sources. Spanning nearly twenty years of his practice, this survey includes drawing, painting, photography, video, sculpture, installation, sound, and performance. Across this variety of media, Franco demonstrates his studio-based consideration of significant art historical figures from rock artist ancestors, to art history’s formative figures such as Heinrich Wölfflin and Erwin Panofsky, to American artists like Georgia O’Keeffe and Robert Smithson. Working through these legacies in the studio provides the artist a space away from the taming disciplinary force of art history. The history of art emerging from Franco’s studio is a feral one.

As an artist, Franco’s primary medium is the discipline of art history itself. He completed a B.A. in Art History at Southwestern University and earned his M.A. and Ph.D. from Binghamton University. Franco’s art has been exhibited and supported by museums, galleries, and foundations worldwide including Co-Lab Projects, Esperanza Peace & Justice Center, Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Addison Gallery of American Art, Agave Festival Marfa, Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, Art Bridges Foundation, and the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center among many others. In 2025-2026, Franco is NEH Innovator in Residence at Colorado College.