Education

1995 University of St. Andrews , Scotland
1992 St. Martin College of Art, London
1991 NYU Tisch School of the Arts
1989 Concord Academy

Solo Exhibitions

2006 Dot Fifty One, Miami , FL
Art Gotham , NY , NY
Where Fashion Meets Art, David Yurman, NY , NY
212 Gallery, Aspen , CO

2005 Salomon Contemporary, East Hampton , NY

2004 Sara Nightingale Gallery, Water Mill, NY

2003 Sara Nightingale Gallery, Water Mill, NY
The New York Merchantile Exchange , NY , NY
DFN Gallery, Tribeca , NY
Stricoff Fine Art, Chelsea , NY

2002 Nightingale Gallery, Water Mill, NY
Gallery Timothy Tew, Atlanta , GA

2001 NY Horticultural Society, NY , NY
Gallery Timothy Tew, Atlanta , GA

2000 Nightingale Gallery, Water Mill, NY
Ursus Prints, NY , NY

1999 Elaine Benson Gallery , Bridgehampton , NY
Nightingale Gallery, Water Mill, NY

1998 Nightingale Gallery, Water Mill, NY
Ashawagh Hall, East Hampton , NY

1997 Elaine Benson Gallery , Bridgehampton , NY

1996 Elaine Benson Gallery , Bridgehampton , NY

Group Exhibitions

2007 Scope Miami , Miami , FL
RVS, Southampton , NY
Scope Hamptons, Wainscott , NY
McNeill Art Group, Southampton , NY

2006 Art 212, Art Gotham, NY , NY
RVS Fine Art, Southampton , NY

2005 Scope London, McNeill Art Group, London , UK
Parralax, Art on the Trax, Alternative Installation, Southampton, NY
Art Gotham , NY , NY
RVS Fine Art, Southampton , NY

2004 The Art Movement, London , UK
Elaine Benson Gallery , Bridgehampton , NY
DFN Gallery , NY , NY
International Juried Exhibition, NJCVA, Summit , NJ

2003 Gallery Timothy, Tew Atlanta , GA
Armory Arts Center , West Palm Beach , FL

2002 Rsquared Gallery, NY, NY
DFN Gallery, NY, NY
Jan Kesner Gallery, Los Angeles , CA

2001 Lizan Tops Gallery East Hampton , NY
Jan Kesner Gallery, Los Angeles , CA

2000 The New Museum of Contemporary Art , NY , NY
Lizan Tops Gallery, East Hampton , NY
Jan Kesner Gallery, Los Angeles , CA
Guild Hall, East Hampton , NY

Awards and Grants

1999 Penny McCall Foundation Grant
1999 NY Press Award
1999 Hampton Classic Poster Artist
2002 Merit Award for “Cream Belly” Armory Arts Center Figurative Works Show.
2002 Graphis Flora Book Competition
2004 Applied Arts Photography Annual, Awards for Lieonize Series
2005 Guild Hall juried show winner

Tapp Francke is a master of color. An award-winning fine arts photographer, her work is displayed in galleries from New York to Los Angeles to London . In all five of her series, she has explored the dynamic between figures and color combinations to create stirring, transfixing images. Aristotle called color a drug, Francke points out, and contemporary writer Diane Ackerman calls color “a silent language.”

“Color is a powerful force that evokes emotions that language can’t often express” Francke says. “Seeing color is a sensory experience that can unlock in us feelings and perceptions.”

Francke has received numerous awards in juried art shows and was a winner in the 2004 photography competition held by Applied Arts magazine. Art critics have highlighted her work in publications such as The New York Art World and most recently, The New Yorker magazine.

Francke studied photography at New York University ’s Tisch School of the Arts and received a Masters degree in philosophy from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland . Her studio is in Bridgehampton , New York .

Chromesthesia

The linear color field images are all photographs of neon tubing.  They are shot with an old Hasselblad and because Francke is using film, not digital processes, the colors are pure light, and achieve more saturated hues.  The neon words are neon sculpture.  Francke works with a neon company, creates a font, and selects color and size base on her response to specific words that have specific meanings, and/or feelings.  

Chromesthesia refers to a concept that explains how one sense modality can be triggered by the sensations of color.  It is a theory based on the subject of synesthesia.