Flore
New York Summers
2020

About the Item

Flore New York Summers 72 x 72 inches Acrylic on canvas Unique work Signed by artist Unframed Part of the current exhibition, Urban Cubism, at Art Angels Gallery More than sixty years have passed since the critic Robert Coates, writing in the New Yorker in 1946, first used the term “Abstract Expressionism” to describe the richly colored canvases of Hans Hofmann. Over the years the name has come to designate the paintings and sculptures of artists as different as Jackson Pollock and Barnett Newman, Willem de Kooning and Mark Rothko, Lee Krasner and David Smith. Beginning in the 1940s, under the aegis of Director Alfred H. Barr, Jr., works by these artists began to enter the Museum’s collection. Thanks to the sustained support of the curators, the trustees, and the artists themselves, these ambitious acquisitions continued throughout the second half of the last century and produced a collection of Abstract Expressionist art of unrivaled breadth and depth. street art pop art Keith Hering original painting street artist byflore modern contemporary art abstract

Creator:
Flore (1983, American)
Creation Year:
2020
Dimensions:
Height: 72 in (182.88 cm)Width: 72 in (182.88 cm)
Medium:
Canvas,Oil,Acrylic
Movement & Style:
Contemporary
Period:
2010-
Condition:
Gallery Location:
Los Angeles, CA
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU38338083832
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Flore

Born in Brooklyn, New York’s Marine Park neighborhood, contemporary fine artist Christopher Florentino, also known as “Flore,” grew up surrounded by art. His aunt Weezy, a major influence during Flore’s childhood, was a sculptor, and she immersed her nephew in the New York art scene from an early age.

Flore was drawn to the Museum of Modern Art, not only to the energy of 20th-century abstract works by the likes of Pablo Picasso and Jackson Pollock, but also to mid-century modern furniture for which he developed a particular passion; at the tender age of 13, the artist bought an Eames chair as his very first piece of furniture. Today, Flore has a large collection that includes pieces by Eero Saarinen, Herman Miller and Knoll, among other legendary designers and manufacturers.

Flore studied formally in the communication and design program at New Jersey’s Brookdale Community College before working in a number of creative roles, from fashion (both as a stylist and a T-shirt designer) to crafting window displays. Flore wanted to become an artist but worried about the profession’s viability — a widely shared concern among budding artists. At age 30, however, he made the jump to become a full-time painter. At the intersection of Abstract Expressionism and street art, with touches of both Willem de Kooning and Jean-Michel Basquiat, Flore’s work, which he describes as “urban cubism,” is vibrant both in its scintillating colors and in the energy of its brushstrokes. Text also features prominently in many of his works.

Today, Flore works out of a studio in New York City’s East Village. He also spent several years in Miami and Winter Haven, Florida, where he owned a concrete-and-glass mid-century house (of course!) designed by architect Gene Leedy, a founding member of the Sarasota School of Architecture, a modernist architectural movement launched in Sarasota, Florida, in the 1940s. Flore’s work can be found in the collections of quite a number of high-profile clients, including Beyoncé and Eva Longoria, as well as the Nakamura Keith Haring Collection in Hokuto, Japan.

Browse Flore’s paintings and mixed-media work on 1stDibs.