NEW YORK, NY.- A new book captures the full sweep of Fratino's artistic output—a body of work that combines painting’s rich history with a highly personal and contemporary sensibility.

Since his critically acclaimed 2019 solo exhibition in New York, American painter Louis Fratino has been at the forefront of figurative painting’s international resurgence. This is the first major monograph for the artist, gathering more than 50 of his most important works to date.

Although he has spoken of his admiration for modernist painters including Picasso and Marsden Hartley, Fratino's approach to the medium is highly personal, reconstructed from memories of his own fleeting perceptions. His figures radiate desire; whether poised in a moment of tranquility or entwined in a coital knot, he depicts them with a frankness that speaks to the intimacy of the artist’s tender gaze.

For this publication, Fratino’s work is presented in a generously sized folio format inspired by 1930s avant-garde publications such as Minotaure and Verve, and its dust jacket features a new artwork by the artist. The book includes an introduction by Virginia Anderson, Curator of American Art at the Baltimore Museum of Art, and a conversation between the artist and American painter Carroll Dunham.

Louis Fratino (b. 1993, Annapolis, MD) received his BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2015. He is the recipient of a Fulbright Research Fellowship in Painting and a Yale Norfolk Painting Fellowship. His work is included in the collections of the Baltimore Museum of Art; Hammer Museum; Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; RISD Museum; and the Whitney Museum of American Art. Fratino lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.