Early Life Luis Martínez Fraile was born in Albacete, Spain (February 7th, 1947), inside a humble family. It was his mother's surname, from Sephardic origin, the one chosen to sign his artworks. Being still a child, he combines studies with several jobs, amongst others as a night employee in the mythical Casino Primitivo of the city, where he could meet different social behaviors and characters, vital experience that helped him to forge a very critical and sarcastic view of the society from a very early age, reflected in most of his artworks later. He was a self-taught person and at the age of 20 he achieved a position as Draftsman and Urban Planning Designer at the City Hall of his hometown. He worked for the Cadastre and with the renowned architect Julio Carrilero Prat, designing amongst others, the Nautical Club of Torrevieja. He moved to Barcelona afterwards, employed in an engineering consultancy company. Career He was fluent in English, French, Catalan, Italian, and Spanish of course , so being Painting his true vocation, he decides to travel abroad (France, USA, Canada, Italy, ...) and to break his comfortable life style in order to improve his technique and to learn new methods. In Barcelona he studied Altarpiece and Polychromy (Massana School), Ceramic (Arts and Crafts School), as well as Engraving and Lithography, not only in the Catalan metropolis, but also in Paris (Atelier Hayter) and Toronto (North Toronto Collegiate), where he also made his living creating paintings and stained glass artworks, aside from other occupations as taxi driver. During his Parisian staying, it is also possible to review his studies of Plastic Arts (Université de Vincennes) and History of Art (École du Louvre). In the same way, his intellectual concerns and his self-taught formation extended to multitude of subjects, will lead him to create a work in endless transformation. In addition to appearances in important Spanish publications of the time (Diario ABC, Casa & Jardín, El Punto de Las Artes, Tribuna, Formas Plásticas, etc.) and other recognitions, he was already awarded in its beginnings by the Güell Painting Foundation (Barcelona, 1974) and was a finalist at the 7th Cleveland International Drawing Biennale in the United Kingdom. For several decades, he was featured in multiple exhibitions locally and internationally. At the end of the 80's he moves to Madrid, where he would create most of his paintings, in a tireless and conscientious way. In 1997, he was appointed Academic Associate by the International Academy of Letters, Arts and Sciences of Verbano, Italy. Only the sickness kept him away from his passion. Luis Fraile left us on Kings' Day of 2016. His legacy features more than 3000 artworks. Style " The creations of this non-conformist Spanish artist are sprinkled with allegories as a criticism of the human condition. Like pages checked by the author in the urban chronicle of our days. Luis Fraile art is complex, profound and unsettling, an ambitious controlled expressionism through a mysterious figuration, serene narrative, multiple characters-objects in space, out of his rich imagination." " Surrealistic traits are perceived in those strange beings that populate his paintings, as well as characteristics of Impressionism, discovered throughout his years of learning and, to some extent, assimilated. But the characteristic of Luis Fraile Painting is the Syncretism of an art that knows how to take advantage of all the 'isms' and has managed to overcome them." Doris Martínez Ferrero - Revista Formas Plásticas, Editorial M. R. Taylor, Madrid, Año V Nº35 (1985)