Christopher “Flore” Florentino enters a new chapter with his latest ongoing series, “A Painter, Paints”, which serves as an homage welcoming himself back to New York with works that are deeply rooted in the art history of lower Manhattan. Gestural paintings featuring rich undertones and light, balanced brushstrokes pull color and inspiration from vibrant storefront windows and energetic city streets living and breathing history.

Born in Marine Park, Brooklyn in 1983, Flore was exposed to the aura of Greenwich Village at an early age; cobblestone and lush foliage complement the striking iron buildings, which he dreamed of living in as a child. Dream has now become reality, and his gratitude for the city’s intrinsic influence on him is abundant, flowing through him in this poignant body of work that marks a new chapter.

“A Painter, Paints” is a trip down memory lane to a place where Flore’s greatest influences lived and created: his great-grandmother, first and foremost, who lived at that address for years; followed by the New York School, a post-war collective of abstract expressionist artists. Willem de Kooning, Cy Twombly and Joan Mitchell – key figures from the School – have continuously played a crucial role in the essence of his work as he draws from their spirit of experimentation and his own lived experiences in the heart of Greenwich Village.

An epicenter for authenticity and self-expression, lower Manhattan is the place where painters come to paint. Flore’s return with “A Painter, Paints” is as triumphant as it is elegant, a tribute to others and his own originality.