Upsilon Gallery is delighted to launch its exciting programme for 2025 with a showcase of the works of Francine Tint, an established American painter and one of the gallery’s core artists, who embodies the spirit of Abstract Expressionism.
Open now until 29 March, the exhibition represents Tint’s debut in the UK and celebrates the painter’s remarkable career, while introducing her dynamic, gestural paintings to new audiences.
Alongside Francine Tint, Upsilon Gallery presents a selection of contextualising works by abstract painters Larry Poons and Helen Frankenthaler, whom Tint cites as major influences, particularly in their use of bright colours.
Radical Acts of Beholding coincides with February’s season of connection and reflection and invites viewers to engage deeply with Francine’s art by transforming the act of looking into a profound experience of presence and transformation. An opening reception will be held at Upsilon Gallery in London’s Mayfair on February 13th, from 6-8pm.
For more than five decades, Francine Tint has created a remarkable body of work. Her paintings display an exhilarating freedom of execution, combined with an original and frequently surprising colour sensibility, and vary in size from 10 inches to nearly 20 feet. Her brushwork ranges from languorous and undulating swathes of paint to more agitated gestures.
Her works speak of a powerful and unwavering commitment to the visual and emotional vocabulary of abstract painting and embody the artist’s personal and deeply held belief in the power of intuitive creation. ‘Although she favours a forceful and sometimes-aggressive attack on the canvas, the aim is toward a kind of Zen perfection and calm in the end’ comments writer and curator David Ebony.
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Now 81 years young, Francine’s creative career began as a successful costume designer and fashion stylist – working for David Bowie and Ridley Scott amongst others – whilst painting at night. Today, she is a remarkable female artist whose contributions had been overlooked in recent years, until representation by Upsilon Gallery began to shed new light on her oeuvre, helping bring the overdue recognition she deserves. A successful solo show at Upsilon’s New York gallery has also been key to this process.
Working tirelessly to this day and still creating vibrant, boundary-pushing works, Francine Tint is a master of colour. Her work can be understood through the legacy of Abstract Expressionism, particularly the lyrical, colour-driven approaches of Helen Frankenthaler, whom Tint knew and admired. Yet her own work goes beyond the colour field, channelling this movement in ways that feel immediate, raw, and alive.
“Colour should be a delicious shock to the eye,” Tint has said, and her works exemplify this ethos. They bleed colour – vivid and unapologetic – inviting an act of profound attention. Tint herself describes her process as ego-less: “I’m not even the boss. I let the painting do it for me.” This surrender to the medium results in works that feel intuitive and alive and whose rhythmic, gestural movements invite the viewer into a dynamic dialogue.
- Caroline Collett
