In 1978 artist Franklin Gaskin, known as Franco the Great, took it upon himself to change a negative into a positive by painting inspiring murals on metal storefront gates in Harlem, creating a new art form. On Sundays when stores were closed, Franco painted two hundred gates from the West to the East Side of 125th street. These striking murals portray Franco's forward-looking philosophy-his very first gate painting is entitled, I Must Bloom Where I Am Planted.
From a tragic childhood accident in Panama to world-renowned Harlem artist, Franco shares his one-of-a-kind art and immigrant life story with great honesty. On most Sundays, you can still find Franco on a corner of 125th Street greeting visitors with warm hugs and kisses. Through his body of work in Harlem, Franco has received invitations to paint murals in Europe, Asia, the Caribbean, and Africa. Please visit www.francothegreat.com.
About the Author: At the age of three, Franco fell several stories and sustained serious head injuries in Panama, his birthplace. After emerging from a one-month coma, he found it difficult to socialize normally and make friends. In an isolated state, he began drawing and cartooning as a way to pass the time, playing with imaginary characters. Not long after, with the encouragement of a local Catholic priest, he later went on to study performance as a stage magician; this helped him to overcome introverted tendencies and build a social life.
Franco studied with an artist named Danzig for four years in his youth. Danzig gave him speech lessons and trained him to perform in front of large crowds. He encouraged Franco to move in an entrepreneurial direction, supporting his dream to move to New York and sell his skills as an artist and magician.
In 1958, Franco moved to New York and began working immediately, starting with connections he garnered in the Spanish community. Ten years later, reacting to the riots after Martin Luther King's assassination, store owners in Harlem added steel gates to their storefronts. Franco saw these gates as canvases to call for positive change. He began painting them on Sundays, a day when most stores are closed, to promote African-American themed murals. Since then, Franco has painted over two hundred gates, from the East to the West side of 125th Street, and beyond.
Many of the security gate murals have since been removed or repainted grey. In 2008, new zoning laws required store owners to install "see-through" gates, which required store owners to de-install Franco's works. Aside from the gates still currently in use today, twenty-five gates have been saved and put away into storage. Supporters of the Save the Gates Campaign hope to have the gates relocated and preserved in Triboro Plaza. The Harlem community is working to preserve Franco's gates and to have them on permanent display between 1st and 2nd avenues, creating an outdoor gallery. In 2014, New York City developers announced plans to showcase the remaining gates in East River Plaza, as an homage to the Harlem of the past. For more information, please visit francothegreat.com.
