Megan Frances

Megan Frances is a Los Angeles-based painter. Born in Canada, she lived in the Bahamas while growing up, and attended art school in Canada and France. Her paintings – abstract with thematic representational elements – reflect multiple influences gathered from her experience living in different countries and the exposure to varied artistic traditions, from abstract expressionism to surrealism. 

Megan Frances is interested in symbolically portraying humanity’s imprint on the natural world. The paintings in her current body of work, Lost Landscapes, are neither traditional nor abstracted landscapes. While their subjects are primarily abstract, the paintings also incorporate thematic representational elements. Stylized leaves, plant forms and allusions to landscape reference nature and the environment. Compositional interventions, the works are painted on found textile which Frances uses as a ground instead of canvas. As if in dialogue, her hard edge painted elements contrast and interact with the botanical motifs present in the background. Many of the paintings feature sub-tropical flowers and foliage, referring to the artist’s formative years when she lived in the Bahamas. As such, Lost Landscapes connotes pristine landscapes from the past with profound personal significance to the artist. 

Composition and integrity of line are paramount concerns in her work. Frances renders her imagery mostly freehand with graphite pencil and paintbrush. Forgoing symmetry, she seeks to create a sense of balance with a degree of unpredictability. Once she constructs a motif, she gradually deconstructs it until it becomes almost unrecognizable. The artist employs a nuanced two-dimensional effect, building on multiple intersecting layers.

Megan is an artist member of the Los Angeles Art Association / Gallery 825. Her work has been exhibited in Canada, the U.S. and the Bahamas, and is held in private collections in North America and the Caribbean.