Josh Franco

Agave Festival Marfa is excited to present Josh T Franco, National Collector at the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Franco is a brilliant artist and art historian based in the Washington DC area. He is a native of West Texas and will be contributing to Agave Festival in many ways this year, including conversations with Cheech Marin and Kay Turner, as well as through new creative work.

Franco is the author of the highly thought-provoking dissertation, “Marfa, Marfa: Minimalism, rasquachismo, and Questioning ‘Decolonial Aesthetics’ in Far West Texas” which he completed in the Art History department at Binghamton University in 2016. As an artist, Franco has produced and exhibited since 2009. In addition to fulfilling a creative need, this practice ensures that his scholarship is constantly informed by the intimate processes of making work and participating in the exhibition process. As National Collector at the Archives of American Art, Franco works to identify, investigate and acquire personal papers, institutional records and other primary sources that tell the story of American Art. In addition to ensuring their preservation at the Smithsonian, Franco advises researchers working in the Archives, making them aware of materials relevant to their pursuits. Franco also advises early and mid-career artists on planning for the future of their personal papers. Previously, Franco served as Latino Collections Specialist at the Archives of American Art (2015-2017).