All in a day’s work

Patrick Alexis - marvin franklin

curated by Barbara Campisi, Michelle samedi and hanne tierney

Patrick Alexis, a detective with the NYPD and Marvin Franklin, who worked as a track worker for the MTA and was killed by a train in 2007, are two artists whose daily experiences working for the city of New York inform their art.

The exhibition came about when Patrick Alexis came to FiveMyles and asked for a studio visit. He said that his paintings are about the police, what police officers see, think about and what they fear. All of which the public does not know. In his career as a Black officer working primarily in minority communities, he sees the complexity of the confrontational landscape that contributes to police involved shootings. With his paintings he asks the question of how do communities and the police reform themselves? How to arrive at unbiased opinions on both sides?

Michelle Samedi, a long-time Crown Heights resident, neighbor and friend, felt strongly that these paintings should be shown, that the public needs to see the human side of policing, that it is FiveMyles’ job to show artwork and not to censor. Michelle agreed to co-curate the exhibition with Hanne Tierney.

Patrick Alexis has a large number of paintings in his studio, and he explains this by saying; “We see trouble, violence and so much pain, and I relieve myself of it by using a brush and paint and passing it on to the canvas”. A self-taught painter of Haitian descent, Patrick Alexis grew up in Brooklyn and now lives with his family on Long Island. He studied communications at Ithaca college and is committed to continue to tell stories, his own and those of his fellow officers, through his art.

Marvin Franklin who had worked underground for 22 years as a rail worker for the MTA, was killed by a train in 2007. The artist Barbara Campisi introduced FiveMyles to Marvin Franklin’s widow, Tenley Franklin, and she showed these incredible drawings Franklin made on his nightly trips to and from work. The drawings capture the loneliness of the subway at nighttime – vacant stares, heads tilted in sleep, a mother’s lap used as a pillow for her children’s heads.

Franklin’s subjects were often the homeless, who sought shelter in the station. He worked at night and he drew at night, and like Patrick Alexis, he drew what he knew and saw. His legacy is the almost forty filled notebooks he carried with him day and night. Many large drawings show his empathy for the sleeping subway riders. He also made many paintings that show his family and friends.

Marvin Franklin grew up in Brooklyn. He studied at the Art Students League during the day and worked on the subway tracks at night. He always carried an 11"x14” sketchbook and usually used a simple ball point pen because he felt it forced him to draw more carefully since erasure was impossible.

This exhibition of Marvin Franklin’s notebooks and drawings is curated by Barbara Campisi.

GALLERY HOURS:

Thursday - Sunday, 1 - 6pm, or by appointment. Please email hanne@fivemyles.org, or call 718-783-4438.

DIRECTIONS:

Take 2, 3, or 4 trains to Franklin Avenue. Walk two blocks against the traffic on Franklin. Walk ¾ block to 558 St. Johns Place. FiveMyles is within easy walking distance from the Brooklyn Museum.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

FiveMyles is in part supported by the New York State Council for the Arts, Public Funds from the New York City Dept. of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, Council Member Laurie Cumbo, The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Foundation, the Shelley and Donald Rubin Foundation, the Perlemeter Foundation, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the Joseph Robert Foundation, and the William Talbott Hillman Foundation.