Jesse Mockrin’s recent collection of works are an exercise in aesthetics. Reminiscent of old-master painting techniques (also familiar turf to painter John Currin), the figurative works display Mockrin’s technical skill with soft edges of fingertips and whimsical petals of roses serving as details of painterly insight. The paintings are connected through a consistent palette of luminescent blues, grays and purples that cast the series in a world of twilight.

Jesse Mockrin, Garden of Love (2016), courtesy of the artist and Night Gallery.

Jesse Mockrin, Garden of Love (2016), courtesy of the artist and Night Gallery.

The oil paintings are predominately figurative, and while portraits can often seem stuffy or old-fashioned, Mockrin escapes this pitfall by cropping her paintings in unconventional and exciting ways. Rococo themes seem new again, and while Garden of Love (2016) directly references art-school classic The Swing (Jean-Honoré Fragonard, 1767), the framing of the image makes it seem fresh and avoid being derivative.

Jesse Mockrin, Bloom (2015), courtesy of the artist and Night Gallery.

Jesse Mockrin, Bloom (2015), courtesy of the artist and Night Gallery.

Luscious floral-patterned fabrics and rich drapery also take center stage in paintings like Bloom (2015) and The Way We Are (2016). Mockrin’s dedication to traditional subject matter is admirable, and while the works don’t seem terribly conceptual, that seems to be not the point.

Jesse Mockrin, The Way We Are (2016), courtesy of the artist and Night Gallery.

Jesse Mockrin, The Way We Are (2016), courtesy of the artist and Night Gallery.

Jesse Mockrin, Moonage Daydream (2015), courtesy of the artist and Night Gallery.

Jesse Mockrin, Moonage Daydream (2015), courtesy of the artist and Night Gallery.

Romance and love are clearly a theme to be meditated on when viewing these works, not only given the title, but also because of the sly grins of the paintings’ subjects, the suggestiveness of rope caressing a wrist in Moonage Daydream (2015), the slip of a thigh in Love and Friendship (2016). There’s no denying that these works are subtly sexy, and that may be their greatest appeal. Of course one has to wonder what’s going on behind the show’s principal piece School of Love (2016)—if only we could peer behind the drapes.

Jesse Mockrin, School of Love (2016), courtesy of the artist and Night Gallery.

Jesse Mockrin, School of Love (2016), courtesy of the artist and Night Gallery.

Jesse Mockrin, “The Progress of Love,” March 12–April 16, 2016 at Night Gallery, 2276 E 16th St, Los Angeles, CA 90021; nightgallery.ca