Growths of the Earth: Louis Fratino at Ciaccia Levi, Paris

Posted


The first time I saw any work by Louis Fratino was nearly four years ago, when Antoine Lévi was showing some at Paris Internationale, the 'emerging art fair' that usually takes place at the same time as the 'posher' FIAC. I've often regretted I didn't buy the little Man on a Swing that caught my eye at the time.

The one that got away:
Man on a Swing
Since then, I've visited Antoine Lévi's other exhibitions of Fratino's work, and bought a couple of pastel drawings. His pastels, paintings, drawings and even ceramics often visibly feature scenes from gay life, including explicitly sexual ones, but they are generally quiet and domestic in tone, a restful change from aggressive, hectoring, 'Spartist' contemporary art. You never get the feeling you're being beaten into submission with insistent identity politics.

Today I went to see Growths of the Earth, Fratino's latest solo show at what's now Ciaccia Levi Paris. It was interesting to see him maturing into bigger formats with an even more confident line or stroke than before, still in the same distinctive, colourful, angst-free style hinting back to art déco and mid-century Italy, and especially interesting to see him reviving flower painting, not something you expect to see much of in leading-edge galleries these days. Not surprisingly, as nature basically gives me the pip, I liked the birds and landscapes less: if we must have nature, let's have it morte.

This is a direct link to Aurélien Mole's professional photos of Growths of the Earth on Ciaccia Levi Paris's website.

And this is a link to Louis Fratino's artist's page on the same site.

The photos below, like the one at the top of this post, are mine.











Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Paris tips: visiting

Posted
Image
  Note : this post and the April 28 one, about eating out, were written for American friends visiting Paris, one of them for the first time, who wanted a few tips from a local. They were staying in a hotel just off République... ***** I guess you'll have your own guide book to help you plan your visit. But whichever one (or more) it is, I thought you might find the Michelin Green Guide 's tourist map of Paris (below) helpful, as it makes it easy to locate the main sights. I think you'll find if you click on the map, it will blow up to a more legible size. The inset box at top left explains Michelin's ratings system, similar to its approach to restaurant ratings. With a decent guide book, you won't need much help from me, but I just wanted to add one or two items that visitors might miss, plus an idea for a north-south walk (or south-north, as you wish) that makes a change from the usual main east-west (or west-east!) drag. Also, finally, one neglected but unique mus
Read more

Paris tips: eating out

Posted
Image
Note : this post and the April 30 one, about things to see, were written for American friends visiting Paris, one of them for the first time, who wanted a few tips from a local. They were staying in a hotel just off République... ***** THREE STRONG RECOMMENDATIONS These are the three places I'd most strongly recommend during your visit, as I think they offer a nice variety of quality Parisian eating experiences. 1. Dinner at Le Train Bleu When the underlying idea was to recommend places off the tourist track, it might seem odd to start with Le Train Bleu, at the Gare de Lyon. But this is surely one of the most extraordinary restaurant spaces in the world. You can only experience it in Paris, of course, and I usually take any first-time visitor there for dinner. It's Lyon-influenced brasserie food at more-than-brasserie prices, but they have simple set-price menus at 55 and 74 euros, and anyway, as usual, the final bill depends above all on what you drink. It's worth it (and
Read more

Anna Uddenberg: an interesting new development

Posted
Image
Anna Uddenberg is a Swedish artist whose work has, I think, something quite original, distinctive and perceptive to say about the image of women in certain, specific currents of consumer culture that might otherwise be overlooked. I hadn't seen much of her recently, but she now has an exhibition, at her Berlin Gallery, Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler (or K-T Z), of totally new works focusing, this time, not on women but on men. The resulting woodcarvings are an interesting and quite surprising development, and add to what seems to be almost a 'fashion' for reliefs in art at the moment. This is the link to the new exhibition, 'Big Baby' , at K-T Z. This is the link to a video about the new work, on Vimeo , but the video is also on the gallery website. This is the direct link to the page about Anna Uddenberg on the gallery site. The following are some photos of Anna Uddenberg's new and previous work, 'borrowed' from K-T Z.
Read more