Derek Franklin
B. 1981 St. Helens, OR

Bio

Derek Franklin is the Artistic Director of Converge 45 and Founder of SE Cooper Contemporary in Portland, Oregon, while concurrently maintaining his own full-time studio practice. As an artist, Franklin has exhibited his paintings and sculptures for more than twenty years. Selected solo presentations of his work include Meditation Furniture for Ten Minute Breaks (Document, Chicago); grief is on my calendar everyday at 2pm, (Elizabeth Leach Gallery, Portland); and Mending Capers (Thierry Goldberg, New York). Franklin’s recent work has also been presented in group exhibitions at Simone Subal (New York), Performa Biennial (New York), Melanie Flood Projects (Portland), and The Center for Creative Research (Oregon).  

After receiving his MFA from Mason Gross School of Art at Rutgers University, in 2012, Franklin soon became Director of Soloway Gallery, an esteemed artist-run space in Brooklyn, NY, before eventually returning home, in 2017, to the Pacific Northwest. There, he continued to paint and pursue his art, began teaching at local schools and universities, and embarked on preparations to open his own gallery/residency program, SE Cooper Contemporary, to capitalize on the region’s relative isolation from other urban centers, its freedom from the strictures of prevailing cosmopolitan discourse.  

On the heels of the pandemic, in 2022, Franklin took the reins of Converge 45, Portland’s citywide Triennial, to produce its third and most promising iteration to date, Social Forms: Art as Global Citizenship, in collaboration with curator Christian Viveros-Fauné, hosting over sixty artists at seventeen different venues, and attracting over 80,000 viewers to the city. Currently, Franklin is working alongside renowned curator Lumi Tan on the next edition of Converge 45 to debut in 2026. 

 CV

Education

Mason Gross School of Art at Rutgers University, MFA, 2012 

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2023   grief is on my calendar everyday at 2pm, Elizabeth Leach Gallery, Portland, OR

2017    To Leave No Trace, Williamson Knight Gallery, Portland, OR

            Standing Around Waiting to Exhale, Anytime Department, Cincinnati, OH

2016   Gray Minstrel, Carl and Sloan Contemporary, Portland, OR 

            Meditation Furniture for Ten Minute Breaks, Document, Chicago, IL 

            Mending Capers, Thierry Goldberg, New York, NY

            Eyes, Derek Franklin and Kristan Kennedy, Ditch Projects, Springfiield, OR

Selected Group Exhibitions

2023   Dandelion Wine, Central Server Works, Los Angeles, CA

2022   Painters Painting, Melanie Flood Projects, Portland, OR

2018    Utopian Visions, Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, Portland, OR

2017    Divagation, Y Gallery, New York, NY

2015    Everyone Sees the Same Elephant, Vertigo, Denver, CO

2014    Marquee Moon, Thierry Goldberg, New York, NY

2013    We Still Seem to Be Moving, Simone Subal Gallery, New York, NY 

             Neter Gallery, Mexico City, Mexico     

2012    Division 169, curated by Justin Aidan and Wendy White, Rawson Projects, New York, NY

            Rechnoy Vokza Station, Rodchenko School of Photography, Moscow, Russia

            Juried Exhibition, by John Yau, First Street Gallery, New York, NY

2011     Re:Approach, Chapel Gallery, St. Louis, MO

             Ethical Considerations in Project Art with Ben Kinmont, PERFORMA, New York, NY

Bibliography

Derek Franklin Interviewed by Lyndon Barrois Jr., BOMB Magazine, 2023

Derek Franklin @Williamson Knight, Stephanie Snyder, Artforum, 2023

Dean Kissick visits Utopian Visions, Spike Art Magazine, 2018

Utopian Visions, Art Practical Magazine, Ashley Gifford, 2018

Y Gallery, The Observer, By Ryan Steadman, 2017

5 Worthy Art Spaces Outside the Capital Market, Sean J. Carney, ArtNet, 2016

Notes From a Young Curator, By Sam Korman, 2015

Down to Earth: Grace Knowlton, Anya Gallaccio, and Derek Franklin, Haber Arts, John Haber

Curatorial 

Converge 45 Artistic Director, Current

SE Cooper Contemporary, Current

Soloway Gallery, 2013-2016

My Arms are like Joy Joy Joy Joy, Carnegie Museum, Cincinnati, OH, 2017-2018 

Curatorial Intern, The Kitchen, New York, NY, 2013-2014

Curatorial Intern, Portland Institute of Contemporary Art, 2007

Contact: info@secoopercontemporary.com

Registered as Franklin Art Fabrication