Carly Franca

Carly França (b. 1985, San Diego, CA) is a Los Angeles -based artist whose work explores survival, transformation, and the shifting nature of what we hold onto and what we let go. Equal parts Californian, Idahoan, and Brazilian, her practice is shaped by early medical trauma, visible scars, queerness, and the experience of losing her home and studio in a 2025 fire. Working with paint, charcoal, and mixed media, Carly embraces a process-driven approach rooted in gestural spontaneity and improvisation.

Her work resists erasure, instead layering form over uncertainty—mirroring her lived belief that what changes us can also shape us. Carly’s art makes space for impermanence, visibility, and the beauty of becoming.

She has exhibited at the Benton Museum of Art at Pomona College, Art Share LA, Pasadena City College, and the California State San Bernardino Anthropology Museum. She was awarded the 2025 Ellsworth Artist Residency at Art Share LA

Benton Musuem
Line, Smudge, Shade
Contemporary Drawing in Our Los Angeles
On View August 21, 2025 – January 4, 2026