ARTIST BIO

Frank Trocino was born in New York and his family moved to Oregon when he was 6 years old.  Trocino showed an aptitude for art at the age of ten when he was asked to paint all the stage backdrops for a school play after the teachers viewed a painting he did of a giraffe in a jungle scene.  

Trocino turned his interest from art to architecture although continuing his drawing and painting throughout his career as an architect.  He attended the University of Oregons School of Architecture and graduated in 1985.  He was the recipient of the Bartholomew Scholarship and finished his degree at the Academy of Rome in Rome Italy.  Upon graduation he moved to Los Angeles and worked for various architectural firms until starting his own practice in Pasadena.  His firm, Studio Avanti, specialized in entertainment and theme park design gaining prestigious clients like Disney, Universal and Sony Entertainment.

Studio Avanti was well known for their concept design work as well as their artistic rendering and illustrations. It was here that Trocino started using digital design tools and CAD which has influenced his current style and technique.

In 2005 Trocino left Studio Avanti and concentrated on custom residential design which eventually led him to the Middle East where he worked in Saudi Arabia and Dubai on large scale residential and mixed-use projects. Upon returning to the US in 2016, Trocino landed in Portland Oregon where he turned to art as a full time occupation. Eventually he moved to Santa Fe where he currently resides and continues making art full time.  

ARTIST STATEMENT

My paintings explore the intersection of memory, music, architecture, and human experience. Every piece begins with the belief that art has the power to preserve the moments, places, and songs that shape who we become.

Before dedicating myself to painting full-time, I spent more than three decades as an architect designing entertainment venues, theme parks, and custom residences around the world. Architecture taught me to see structure, rhythm, and proportion in everything around me. Painting allows me to loosen those structures, transforming them into expressive compositions where geometry, color, and emotion coexist. My experience with grapheme-color synesthesia further influences my work, allowing color relationships to emerge intuitively rather than through conscious planning. Together, architecture and synesthesia provide both discipline and freedom. 

Music is one of my greatest creative catalysts. Whether inspired by The Beatles, The Zombies, Rod Stewart, The Moody Blues, or the broader British Invasion, I don’t attempt to illustrate songs literally. Instead, I translate the emotions, memories, and cultural significance they evoke into visual form. A familiar melody can instantly transport us to another time and place; my paintings seek to capture that same emotional resonance through color, fractured planes, and layered compositions.

Architecture is another recurring subject. Buildings, like people, possess distinct personalities. Some are confident and commanding, others contemplative and reserved. Through abstraction and Cubist influences, I explore the relationship between the built environment and the individuals who inhabit it, revealing how places become intertwined with memory and identity.

Across all of my collections—whether depicting people, architecture, or music-inspired imagery—I hope to create paintings that invite viewers to slow down, reflect, and discover their own stories within the work. Rather than providing answers, I strive to create visual conversations where each collector brings their own experiences, memories, and interpretations.

Influenced by the pioneering modernists Stuart Davis, Jean Metzinger, and Wassily Kandinsky, I embrace abstraction not as an escape from reality, but as another way of revealing it. My goal is to create artwork that is visually engaging, intellectually rewarding, and emotionally enduring—paintings that continue to reveal new meanings long after they find their place on a collector’s wall.

The Artist Frank Trocino

Frank Trocino creates bold contemporary paintings that merge architectural structure, vibrant color, and human narrative. Influenced by Cubism, music, and memory, his work explores how people, places, and culture shape the stories we carry through life.