Franco Getzy Is a Transplant from South Africa Who Makes Concrete Sculpture

Franco Getzy was a famous artist in South Africa coming out of the years of apartheid. He was born in the Tranckei in the Eastern Cape of South Africa where he grew famous for his ceramics, his Rock Dog studio, and an associated dance group. However, as famous as he was, Franco Getzy had to support himself working as a gardener in a botanical garden. With increasing unrest in South Africa Franco was beaten and several friends were killed. In the end the foundation he worked for decided to move to Panama to start another botanical garden. That is how Franco Getzy, the famous South African artist, came to Panama.

Franco stayed and supports himself making his concrete sculptures. Franco is well known in the community around el Valle. He lives in a very humble house at the foot of Mount Gaital where his entire home is his studio.

When you talk to Franco you sense a sereneness about him. You get the feeling he is holding back and that there is so much more inside, beneath the surface than he lets the world see. What he does talk about is his childhood practicing the piano and singing, winning prizes for his drawings. By age twenty his painting were exhibited in local galleries. His interest in dance was confounded by the fact that he was dyslexic and therefore found it hard to write out choreography.

Along the way Franco Getzy studied modern dance and improvisation at university and with a degree in movement therapy and psychology he worked helping handicapped children.

He and a friend opened a design studio called Rock Dog where they made wearable art. The garments they made went to art galleries but also were worn by models doing improvisation, dancing, and eventually singing with musical instruments. In the end this became a performance group, however, during all this time Franco worked as a gardener in a botanical garden to support himself.

Franco says he is happy in Panama. ” My work still tends to be on the avant-garde side. I have to try and tame myself to fit in with the market and try and create stuff that fits in with most people. My imagination is too bizarre to appeal to the general public. Now I am doing what I love to do, which is living as an artist, selling pieces and teaching.”

Franco talked about the inspiration for his work. “It’s what inspires you. I’m a mediator. When I did modern dance improvisation, part of the course was working intuitively. That means in my meditation, I connect with a higher consciousness (whatever you want to call it) and my creativity flows through a creative source that comes directly from there. That’s what inspires me. My work comes from a spiritual, intuitive connection that I have.”

Franco in El Valle, Panama at 6481-8239.

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