Frankie Shea is the Founder of Moniker Projects and the Moniker Art Fair, London’s premiere event for contemporary art with its roots embedded in urban culture. Frankie took time out of his busy schedule at this year’s fair to talk Fatherhood and Art with Hip Daddy…
Tell us about your kids. What’s it like being a Father?
My two beautiful daughters, Barbara and Daphne, are 12 and 14 respectively. They are maturing into strong, independent women who know their own minds. Whilst Daphne is the more creative of the two, Barbara has shown a tendency to be more business minded and incisive.
Being a single parent of two young girls has its challenges, but I have worked hard to be a supportive father to my girls for the last ten years- alongside spearheading a number of creative projects.
Raising my children has been a joy and the making of me, and I wouldn’t change a single thing.
What’s the one thing you cannot live without as a Dad?
My children- otherwise I wouldn’t be a Dad!
You started the Moniker Art Fair 5 years ago. Tell us more about this year’s Fair.
Moniker believes that everyone should be able to experience and enjoy art in an unintimidating environment. Moniker Art Fair remains committed to providing a platform for some of the most promising emerging talent from street art and its related sub-cultures, showcasing talent with its roots on the wild side. Our immersive approach to curating allows galleries and exhibiting artists greater opportunity for experimentation.
Let’s talk art. Who are some of the artists this year you are excited to be working with?
So, in light of my two daughters, here are my top female artists exhibiting at Moniker Art Fair 2014 (I am biased as I’ve worked with all five before, but I wouldn’t have worked with them if I didn’t like their art!)
I first saw her work when she was painting outside on the big wall of Village Underground, Shoreditch. She was working on her first stop motion animation video, ‘Things Change’. This went on to become an online Vimeo sensation with over 100,00 hits. I love working with Jo, I consider her a friend and I like to involve her in anything I do whenever I can.
Miss Van is a French street artist living in Barcelona and good friends with my partner in crime in the art world, Tina Ziegler. Miss Van was one of the first female street artists to create large scale illustrations using spray paint with the wall as her canvas. Miss Van was part of Tina and I’s touring exhibition ‘Gossip Well Told,’ and at Moniker this year she will be showing with the remarkable Mexican gallery FIFTY24MX.
I love this girl. I love her work, her family and everything about her. I was first drawn to her letter-form graff in Cape Town that I saw around 2007 and have been working with her since. We have just curated her first London Solo show ‘Aqua Regalia,’ which has been an amazing success that runs alongside Moniker Art Fair and will be then touring to Rome and the States in 2015. I will be working with Faith47 forever …
How does art impact you at home with the kids? What role does it play in the household?
Daphne has started showing an interest in art, and has even started her own small art collection! KAWS is her favourite artist.
How do you manage the demands of running Moniker with your fatherhood duties?
At times it has been difficult being a single father whilst running Moniker Projects and Moniker Art Fair, but life throws many challenges at you and you have to learn to adapt- all parents will know this to be true, it’s all about the kids. I’ve certainly not had the most conventional upbringing, often having little to no support from my immediate family. I try my hardest to manage the both, because I want to be as involved in my daughter’s lives as possible. It has been a joy to watch them grow up.
For more on Frankie Shea, follow him on Twitter here, and Moniker here.
