At just 25, painter Leo Frontini has emerged as one of the most compelling young voices in contemporary figurative art, and his newest solo exhibition ‘Everlapsing Interlude’ at Make Room Los Angeles marks a striking evolution in his practice. Known for collapsing interiority, folklore, and emotional memory into feverishly detailed worlds, Leo paints the liminal — those fragile, incandescent spaces between endings and beginnings. In this latest body of work, figures, objects, and landscapes slip in and out of cohesion, forming dreamlike, kaleidoscopic narratives that stretch across myth, memory, and the subconscious. Drawing on classical draftsmanship, oil painting traditions, and poetic sensibilities, he invites viewers into a suspended realm where time softens, meaning liquefies, and every gesture carries the weight of something just about to happen, or just having passed. ‘Everlapsing Interlude’ further cements him as a singular talent redefining the visual language of contemporary figurative painting.
‘Everlapsing Interlude’ centers on the space between endings and beginnings. What first drew you to explore this emotional and temporal “in-between”?
I began this body of work with an interest in time and progressions as an overarching theme, as I like to enter each exhibition through a broad conceptual lens. The paintings inevitably take on a theme of their own as the work develops, and from that initial point of departure, I found myself drawn toward ideas of endings and beginnings, inspired by the structure of a story or the anatomy of a life as it unfolds.
This line of inquiry eventually led me to consider the moments that exist between actions. In particular, with the paintings Anamnesis and Wishes, I became captivated by the interludes that shape us.
Anamnesis centers on remembrance and reflection, whereas Wishes explores manifestation and the quiet suffocation of unrealized dreams. Both paintings inhabit those suspended moments, the pauses that hold meaning before movement resumes. I began to see each painting through this lens, and I felt that it had been present from the start.
As I began writing about the paintings and the concept of “in-between,” I felt even more drawn to its significance. In our present, the moments of pause are so often occupied by our phones or media, and I thought that this show really embodies the significance of the moments we have between action. Moments of reflection or even boredom are the kindling of action, and are so often overlooked.
You’ve described these works as “liquid narratives.” What does narrative fluidity mean to you as a painter?
A fluid or liquid narrative, to me, is one that is unbound. I always think of the painting as a scene paused or captured in a single moment. I often wonder what exists beyond the edges of the composition. I want to push the world or the idea further by adding elements in the background, creating a sense of depth both pictorially and narratively that keeps the viewer and me engaged.
It feels ephemeral, both visually and conceptually, because each viewer brings their own experience and perspective, shaping the painting's meaning in their own way. The narrative remains open and shifting, always alive.