Adrien Fregosi

Adrien Fregosi’s large-scale paintings teem with figures and objects caught in subtle, almost secretive interactions, drawing viewers into complex, layered worlds that pulse with storytelling energy. Straddling the line between genre painting and comic-strip narrative, his works combine symbolic resonance with narrative drive, inviting viewers to navigate visually intricate environments rich with interwoven motifs and meanings. A recurring motif is the central figure, often depicted lying down or in a withdrawn posture. This presence functions both as a protagonist around which the surrounding elements are arranged and as a self-reflective anchor, subtly linking the viewer’s gaze to the artist’s own perspective. Through this device, Fregosi transforms personal introspection into shared visual experience. His compositions explore the breadth of human emotion and experience, from love and fatherhood to illness, isolation, and the challenges of artistic life. These themes coexist with moments of joy, tenderness, and communal connection, capturing the contradictory and dynamic nature of existence. The materiality of his work draws from a range of sources on the margins of established art history: graffiti, fanzine culture, technical airbrush techniques, and 1960s figurative painting. Fregosi is particularly attentive to overlooked or peripheral modes of creation, incorporating their inventive spirit into a practice that values sincerity, imperfection, and the expressive possibilities of marginalized influences. ...

Founded in 2010 by Guillaume Sultana, Sultana collaborates with emerging international artists. The gallery space operates as a site for experimentation and expression, often bringing together well-established and lesser known artists through a playful, yet politically-engaged curatorial program that highlights practices concerned with questions of identity and their social ramifications. By giving space to curators and writers, in addition to artists, the gallery is committed to rethinking the traditional modes of exhibition-making and collaboration within the art world. In 2021, Sultana opened Sultana Summer Set Arles to convene artists, collectors, curators, and friends close to the gallery in a domestic and intimate space in the heart of the city. This space was conceived as a residency and site of exchange, to host projects angled toward creative freedom, reflection, and flânerie that eschews a regular programming schedule, and is organized instead according to the whims and desires of our community. These two spaces exemplify the spirit of Sultana: the desire to provide artists with an independent platform for expression via site-specific projects and curatorial propositions. ...