Jarren frame, 360 MAGAZINE

Jarren Frame

New York artist, Jarren Frame, has made a mark in the art scene and is currently on display at world-renowned hotels and celeb hotspots such as Socialista, Sixty Hotel Soho, Mamo, Casa Malca, The Bowery Hotel, and Faena, alongside Damien Hirst’s iconic Golden Mammoth.  

Born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1990, Frame was inspired to step into the art world as a child from his grandfather, Philip Frame — a Sunday painter and founder of Frame Textiles Group (one time the largest blanket manufacturing business in the world). Philip would teach his grandson to paint flowers on weekends, igniting a spark leading him to pursue art full-time.

In October 2017, Frame displayed a series of James Bond-inspired works known as “The Playboy Paintings” during his first solo exhibition alongside photographer Peter Cary Peterson at The SIXTY SoHo Hotel. Following its success, he collaborated with Puerto Rican artist Jorge Zeno on “Zeno Gravity” on another Bond-inspired piece.

A rotating selection of artworks from his first collection titled “Bond, James Bond,” debuted in December 2017 at 77 Greene Street in New York. The series of 33 acrylic-on-wood pieces featured the recontextualization of vintage James Bond imagery over modern-day landscapes. The idea was born during a trip to Sardinia, where the 1977 classic film The Spy Who Loved Me was shot. ‘‘’Bond, James Bond’ was created on such an impulse. What I sought to do with those paintings was neutralize some of the shame around sex and masculinity. That’s really what those paintings are about: Fun, sex and champagne.”All 33 pieces sold out within a year, attracting a number of bold-face name buyers such as Chris Burch, Steve Wynn, Barron Hilton, former United States Secretary of Commerce Peter George Peterson, Alex Pall of The Chainsmokers, and hoteliers including Jason Pomeranc andJason Strauss.

Frame’s current collection, “Colors,” is another series of 33 paintings – this time acrylic-on-canvas and was inspired by the meaning we assign to colors and is meant to confront the viewer with the enormous diversity of choice we have. “‘Colors’ are a way of bottling up excitement and happiness that provide the power to inspire and uplift in addition to capturing and championing the spirit of individuality.”  The series premiered, for a limited-time at Socialista and Surf Lodge in July 2019.

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