James Bartolacci (b. Easton, PA 1988) is an artist based in London. He received his MFA in Painting and Printmaking from the Yale School of Art in 2020.
In 2024, he was awarded the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant.
Drawing from personal experiences of queer nightlife in New York and other cities, his artwork celebrates the catharsis of the scene while also embracing its hangover.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2026
“Goodnight, New York,” Galerie Thomas Fuchs, Stuttgart, DE
2023
“Saudade,” Taymour Grahne Projects, London, UK
2022
“Time to Leave,” Anat Ebgi Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2021
“Life Without Night,” Taymour Grahne Projects, London, UK
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025
“Nowhere but the Night,” Galerie Ron Mandos, Amsterdam, NL
2023
“Queer Intimacy,” Taymour Grahne Projects, London, UK
2022
“Intimacy,” Taymour Grahne Projects, London UK
“Late Night Enterprise”, Galerie Perrotin, New York, NY
2021
“The Gaze,” TJ Boulting Gallery, London, UK
“It’s Much Louder Than Before,” Anat Ebgi Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; co-organized with Stefano di Paola
“Come Together,” Workplace, [online], London, UK
2020
“Only When You Are Called: Yale MFA Thesis Exhibition,” Green Gallery, New Haven, CT
“Run What You Brung: Yale MFA First Year Show,” Green Gallery, New Haven, CT
2019
“Got it For Cheap,” The Hole, New York, NY
2017
“Westside Exposure,” Westbeth Gallery, New York, NY
PUBLIC ART
2022
“Public Displays of Queer Affection,” New York, NY
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Queer Art: From Canvas to the Club and the Spaces Between by Gemma Rolls-Bentley
Frieze Magazine James Bartolacci’s Intimate Journey from Nightclub to After Party by Kevin Brazil
California Art Review It’s Much Louder Than Before at Anat Ebgi by Ricky Amadour
Metal Magazine Honouring the Queer Nightlife of NYC by Emma Smit
The Guardian The Gaze review by Laura Cumming
The Gaze Curator and Artist Statement by Louis Wise
Artsy 7 Artists on the Resilience of Depicting Queer Intimacy in Public by Osman Can Yerebakan
Dazed These paintings pay tribute to the queer nightlife of NYC by Emily Dinsdale
Something Curated Interview: Painter James Bartolacci On Queer Nightlife As An Art Form
Observer How 2020 Changed the Art of Three Emerging MFA Grads by Osman Can Yerebakan