New York Artist Brandon Sines Goes Large With His Frank Ape Exhibition

Creative Boom: Inspiration New York artist Brandon Sines goes large with his Frank Ape exhibition Meet the giant ape whose easy-going demeanour and street cred are uniting people across the Big Apple. Written By: Garrick Webster 27 April 2026 Frank Ape started off no larger than a sticker when Brandon Sines first drew him 15 years ago. Now he's set to appear as an eight-foot sculpture, the centrepiece of Brandon's Let's Be Frank exhibition, opening 1 May at the Cycol Gallery in New York.

Starting as a street art character, Frank has appeared on countless walls, billboards and lamp posts across the Big Apple, but this new show is a big deal for the artist in so many ways. First of all, the sculpture will be the biggest rendition of Frank yet seen in public. "Making Frank slightly larger than a human creates this immediate feeling that he is both relatable and otherworldly at the same time," says Brandon. "It is the largest sculpture I have ever made. Creating something at that scale, something literally bigger than myself, brought me back to the feeling I had when I was a young artist full of curiosity and wonder.

It reminded me why I started making things in the first place." But there's plenty more to the show than a big primate. Visitors will be able to engage with Frank in more ways than ever before. Alongside the sculpture, you'll see Brandon's Frank Friends series of paintings, inspired by the people of the city. Brandon has created an immersive Frank experience called Growth and assembled an animation that tells Frank's story in three parts. Some lucky visitors will even be able to get a free, permanent Frank Ape tattoo, designed by Brandon and inked by Mira Mariah, AKA @girlknewyork. What more could you want?

"Sometimes the inspiration comes from something simple, just noticing someone going about their everyday life. Other times it comes from something completely unexpected," says Brandon. "One painting was inspired by someone I saw carrying a huge bag of laundry to the laundromat, which felt like a very relatable New York moment. Another was inspired by spotting someone on the subway with a giant iguana sitting on their shoulders." Bike Kill WIP - an ink drawing for the event Brandon and, by extension, Frank are constantly finding the extraordinary in the everyday.

Through urban art, Frank has become not just part of the city's fabric, but part of its social fabric too – a simple drawing that gives people a sense of connection and reflects experiences that cut across backgrounds, ages, and outlooks. "For me, Frank is not about pointing out specific problems as much as he is about highlighting the magic and potential within people. A lot of the work in this show reflects the idea that all of these individual stories and personalities come together to create a broader sense of home," says Brandon.

Apart from a stop-motion animation day camp he attended when he was 10, Brandon lists no formal creative training. However, those specific skills came to the fore during the making of his three-part animation. Combining photos he took of the empty streets during COVID with hand-drawn frames, he built the animation on his iPad in a stop-motion aesthetic. Improvised promo for the exhibition Frank is even a flowerpot 01/03 Work in progress for the exhibition "It was really fun to photograph myself on a green screen and insert myself into the animation.

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The exhibition highlights innovative ways to connect art and brand strategy, making it significant for the industry while also offering fresh insights into community engagement.