Louis Fratino: Come Softly to Me

LOUIS FRATINO COME SOFTLY TO ME April 18 - May 24, 2019

LOUIS FRATINO COME SOFTLY TO ME April 18 - May 24, 2019

SIKKEMA JENKINS & CO.

530 WEST 22ND STREET NEW YORK, NY 10011 TEL 212 929 2262 WWW.SIKKEMAJENKINSCO.COM

Louis Fratino’s deeply intimate paintings, often featuring lovers, family, friends, and the artist himself, present the human figure as a site of vast emotive expression. Paint is applied and blended in swathes of color and texture, forming a seductive tactility mirrored in the painted subject matter. Drawing from an art historical lineage of modernist figure painters—including Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, and Fernand Léger—Fratino’s works mine the possibilities of human connection amplified through the seductive power of the painted surface.

This selection of new works sees a shift from the domestic spaces that Fratino commonly depicts into the urban landscape, while also exploring psychological or metaphysical states. In some paintings, recognizable New York landmarks appear in the background as geographical markers of time and space, while in others, figures are unmoored from such associations, appearing in undefined color fields. In Fratino’s work, sexuality, intimacy, desire, and human connection are expressed as a constant presence for his subjects.

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Born in 1993, in Annapolis, MD, Louis Fratino received his BFA in Painting with concentration in Illustration from the Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD in 2015. Recent exhibitions include Night and Day, Jeff Bailey Gallery, Hudson, NY (solo); Heirloom, Antoine Levi Gallery, Paris (solo); Youth and Beauty!, MAN Museo d’Arte Provincia di Nuoro, Nuoro, 2018 (group); and Matisse + Fratino, Cabinet Printemps, Dßsseldorf, 2018 (group). He is a recipient of a Fulbright Research Fellowship in Painting, Berlin (2015-16) and a Yale Norfolk Painting Fellowship, Norfolk, CT in 2014. Fratino lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.

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Me, 2019 Oil on canvas 60 x 48 inches (152.4 x 121.9 cm)

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Chrysler Building, Moon, 2019 Oil on canvas 24 x 20 inches (61 x 50.8 cm)

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Invitation, 2019 Oil on canvas 8 x 10 inches (20.3 x 25.4 cm)

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Early Spring, 2019 Oil on canvas 8 x 10 inches (20.3 x 25.4 cm)

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Mom Trying on a Velvet Dress, 2019 Oil on canvas 12 x 9 inches (30.5 x 22.9 cm)

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Tom, 2019 Oil on canvas 9 x 12 inches (22.9 x 30.5 cm)

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Spiral, 2019 Oil on canvas 14 x 11 inches (35.6 x 27.9 cm)

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Me and Ray, 2018 Oil on canvas 12 x 9 inches (30.5 x 22.9 cm)

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Getting Dressed, 2019 Oil on canvas 12 x 9 inches (30.5 x 22.9 cm)

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I keep my treasure in my ass, 2019 Oil on canvas 85.75 x 65 inches (217.8 x 165.1 cm)

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Bushwick, 2019 Oil on canvas 12 x 9 inches (30.5 x 22.9 cm)

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Jamie, 2019 Oil on canvas 30.5 x 40 inches (77.5 x 101.6 cm)

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January, 2019 Oil on canvas 60 x 75 inches (152.4 x 190.5 cm)

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Angel Writing a Letter, 2019 Oil on canvas 12 x 9 inches (30.5 x 22.9 cm)

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The Manhattan Bridge, 2019 Oil on canvas 60 x 48 inches (152.4 x 121.9 cm)

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Kissing Couple, 2019 Oil on canvas 75 x 60 inches (190.5 x 152.4 cm)

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Star Nude, 2019 Oil on canvas 12 x 9 inches (30.5 x 22.9 cm)

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Blowjob and Moon, 2019 Oil on box lid 3.625 x 3.75 x 0.625 inches (9.2 x 9.5 x 1.6 cm)

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Summer Evening, 2019 Oil on box lid 3.5 x 3.5 x 0.625 inches (8.9 x 8.9 x 1.6 cm)

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The Williamsburg Bridge, 2019 Oil on canvas 95 x 60 inches (241.3 x 152.4 cm)

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Yellow Sleeper, 2019 Oil on canvas 9 x 12 inches (22.9 x 30.5 cm)

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Olive, 2019 Oil on canvas 10 x 8 inches (25.4 x 20.3 cm)

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Metropolitan, 2019 Oil on canvas 60 x 94.75 inches (152.4 x 240.7 cm)

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My Meal, 2019 Oil on canvas 43 x 47 inches (109.2 x 119.4 cm)

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Long Morning, 2019 Oil on box lid 3.5 x 3.5 x 0.625 inches (8.9 x 8.9 x 1.6 cm)

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LOUIS FRATINO

Born 1993, Annapolis, MD Lives and works in Brooklyn, NY

EDUCATION

2016 Fulbright Research Fellowship in Painting and Printmaking, Berlin, DE 2015 BFA, Painting, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD 2014 Ellen Battel Stoeckel Fellowship, Yale Summer School of Art and Music, Norfolk, CT

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2019 Come Softly To Me, Sikkema Jenkins & Co., New York, NY, April 18 – May 24, 2019 2018 Night and Day, Jeff Bailey Gallery, Hudson, NY, May 26 – June 24, 2018

Heirloom, Antoine Levi Gallery, Paris, FR, January 26 – March 10, 2018 2017 So I’ve got you, Thierry Goldberg, New York, NY, September 10 – October 8, 2017

Own, Only, Monya Rowe Gallery, Saint-Augustine, FL, August 4 – September 3, 2017 2016 With everyone, Thierry Goldberg, New York, NY, October 14 – November 13, 2016

REASONS: Works by Louis Fratino, Platform Gallery, Baltimore, MD, August 13 –

September 3, 2016

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2018 O Youth and Beauty! Museo d’Arte Provincia di Nuoro, Nuoro, Italy, November 9, 2018 –

March 3, 2019

INTIMACY, Yossi Milo Gallery, New York, NY, June 28 – August 24, 2018

Glazed, Monya Rowe Gallery, New York, NY, June 27 – August 3, 2018

Invincible Summer, Galerie Mikael Anderson, Copenhagen, Denmark, June 22 –

August 25, 2018

KURA (Summer Rhapsody), at Fonderia Artistica Battaglia, Milan, Italy, July 5 –

September 10, 2018

Triple: Alex Bradley Cohen, Louis Fratino, and Tschabalala Self, University Museum of

Albany, Albany, NY, June 29 – September 15, 2018

Design for Living, Foxy Production, New York, NY, May 18 – June 24, 2018

Touching Palms, Thierry Goldberg, Miami, FL, April 27 – June 3, 2018

One long changing body, Carlier-Gebauer, Berlin, Germany, March 3 – April 14, 2018

Line and Verse, Andréhn-Schiptjenko, Stockholm, Sweden, January 11 – February 17,

2018 2017 Matisse + Fratino, Cabinet Printemps, Düsseldorf, Germany, December 16, 2017 –

February 9, 2018

Practice in Leisure, Galeria Mascota, Mexico City, Mexico, November 11, 2017 –

January 5, 2018

Embodiment: Louis Fratino, Cindy Ji Hye Kim, Danielle Orchard, Michael Stamm, D.C

Moore Gallery, New York, NY, November 9 – December 22, 2017

Life’s Rich Pageant, Jeff Bailey Gallery, Hudson, NY, October 14 – November 26, 2017

Anna Glantz, Anthony Cudahy, Louis Fratino, HARPY Gallery, Rutherford, NJ, May 13 –

June 10, 2017 81

2017 The Edge of Doom, HILDE, Los Angeles, CA, April 22 – May 27, 2017

Mommy, Monya Rowe Gallery, Saint Augustine, FL, March 25 – May 7, 2017

Chase | Fratino | Lee, Thierry Goldberg Gallery, New York, NY 2016 Sister Outsider, Underdonk, Brooklyn, NY, December 9, 2016 – January 29, 2017

Tom Friedman (+The Birthday Show), 1969 Gallery, New York, NY, November 18, 2016 –

January 8, 2017

Human Condition, Los Angeles Metropolitan Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, October 1 –

November 30, 2016 2015 ((between you and me)), Leake Studio, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD 2014 Diamonds and Doughnuts, Geoffrey Young Gallery, Great Barrington, MA, October 11 –

November 1, 2014

Love Tap, Current Space, Baltimore, MD, August 30 – September 27, 2014

Art Crush, Platform Gallery, Baltimore, MD, August 15 – September 10, 2014

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SIKKEMA JENKINS & CO.

530 WEST 22ND STREET NEW YORK, NY 10011 TEL 212 929 2262 WWW.SIKKEMAJENKINSCO.COM