by Josée Thissen-Rojer

The current COVID-19 pandemic has shaken up our daily lives and things are no different in the visual arts sector. In this series, we visit local visual artists and ask them how they are dealing with this situation and whether a lot has changed. This time, we talk to visual artist Francis Sling.

Francis Sling (Curaçao, 1979) describes himself as a multi-media artist because he specializes in so many other art forms in addition to painting. He creates ceramics, bijoux, works with wood, paper, and concrete, is a photographer, and produces digital items. He also writes poetry and is musically talented as well.

Because of the two eye-catching murals he’s created, he is one of the five well-known “street artists” who are currently being honored at Landhuis Bloemhof’s art gallery with a group exhibition about their outdoor artwork, entitled “Di Muraya pa Muraya”. Francis has created several murals, but he’s best known for his “Three o’clock romance” in Scharloo and “Sunú” in Otrobanda.

In 2017, he painted two façades of a corner building in Scharloo, commissioned by Monumentenzorg, with a lavish blooming Golden Rain tree, a tree house, and a loving bird couple, underneath a blue sky. The effect on its surroundings is enormous because, in one fell swoop, this location turns into a trendy attraction. The same thing happens in Otrobanda when, in 2018, commissioned by the neighborhood, he paints a complete side wall of the empty Keizershof with a gigantic, plucked chicken that carefully hangs its feathers on a clothesline. Despite the cynical undertones of the work, it’s extremely popular and tons of people come to admire and photograph his artwork. 

The lockdown occurred almost a year ago now, but Francis still remembers the uncertainty it brought with it. No one knew how long it would take, so he didn’t know whether he had enough money saved, or what was going to happen next. Would he still be able to get commissioned for projects, or would he be able to sell any art in the near future? It was a very hectic period during which he realized that we don’t have complete control over our own lives. At the same time, he was convinced that everything would be fine.

During the lockdown in March and April 2020, he’s still able to make things, thanks to his creativity. He uses leftover paint, for example, to make pendants for necklaces, and he seizes the opportunity to write poetry. “A good artist creates his own materials”, he responds laconically. But now, when he looks back on how everything happened, he feels that, strangely enough, things really weren’t that bad. The interest in his colorful, energetic works of art is still there. Perhaps because his style of painting inspires people. During these uncertain, strange times, people need things that brighten their lives and make everything a bit more bearable. “And maybe”, Francis thinks, “because we can no longer travel around as freely, for example, people now spend their money in a different way. Art has become important.”

Francis is well aware that the pandemic is far from over, but he’s adapted to the “new normal”. As long as there are assignments and he has an income, he thinks he can manage it. And happiness is found in the little things sometimes, like the spontaneous hug from his teenage son a few days ago. This emergency situation will eventually pass. But his son’s hug, so pure and sincere, he will remember for the rest of his life.

He just finished an assignment for Caña, a bar on Penstraat. On the two façades on the side of the parking lot, he creates a vibrant mural, an ode to carpe diem. A scantily clad, fiery dancer who unabashedly and passionately surrenders to the exuberant cocktail that is offered to her. On the other façade, he paints in a slightly less flamboyant style, as a counterpart. It’s a crooked glass with a crowing rooster, balancing on a narrow chimney.

“I paint”, Francis explains thoughtfully, “like a piñata that bursts open. My work has to shatter into small pieces because that’s how I see life.” It’s his way of expressing his philosophy on life through his work. “Those small pieces represent all of us because we are all a small piece of a larger whole, each with its own task or mission.” Francis is convinced of that.

He advises his fellow artists to honor their own styles and not to feel obligated to copy others: “Find your own source of creativity and your own style, because your originality is ultimately what gives you satisfaction and what brings you success.

This post was made possible by the financial support of Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds Caribisch Gebied.
Previously published in Amigoe, Thursday, March 11, 2021. Photographs by John Jairo Herrera.

This text, in whole or part, may only be reproduced with reference to the source: Curaçao Art®️, www.curacao-art.com, and the author. Copyright of the artworks remains the property of the artist.