Francesco Clemente

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Born in Naples in 1952, Francesco Clemente lives and works in New York. A great traveler, the artist regularly goes to Rome, New Mexico and India, where he draws great inspiration. He was one of the main protagonists of the Italian Trans-avant-garde, which gave new life to international figurative painting in the 1980s. Oil or fresco painting, watercolor and pastel, sculptures, books , the artist uses a wide variety of media to explore his favorite themes: spirituality, human identity, the ambivalence of feelings.





Francesco Clemente: Works 1978–2018 – solo show



The Brant Foundation Art Study Center is pleased to announce a survey of works by Francesco Clemente, on view from November 12, 2018 through March 2019. The exhibition brings together a concise but comprehensive selection spanning 40 years of the artist’s work including self-portraits and portraits, works on paper, frescoes, monumental oil and watercolor paintings, and one of the artist’s notable hand painted tents. Executed in Rome, New York, Taos, Varanasi, Jodhpur, Orissa, Pondicherry, and Madras, the works have traveled far and been dispersed among museum collections and art patrons. They now come together for Francesco Clemente: Works 1978–2018, each with its own story to tell. Non-chronological in nature, the exhibition interweaves threads that have been a constant in Clemente’s long-spanning oeuvre, and presents ideas and questions that persist throughout his various transformations in medium.


THE BRANT FOUNDATION ART STUDY CENTER, NEW YORK, USA From 12/11/2018 to 01/04/2019

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Watchtowers, Keys, Threads, Gates – Solo show



Watchtowers, Keys, Threads, Gates is a large-scale installation by Francesco Clemente consisting of a site-specific mural and two series of sculptures produced in the artist’s signature dreamlike aesthetic, and which reflect his ongoing exploration into notions of movement, transition, vulnerability, and mythological narratives.

Both bodies of sculpture were created over the past five years in collaboration with artisans in Jodhpur, India. This exhibition provides a rare glimpse into Clemente’s forays in sculpture, denoting one of the few occasions in which he has worked in the medium.


DALLAS CONTEMPORARY MUSEUM, DALLAS, USAFrom 13/04/2019 to 25/08/2019

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Standing with truth for Ravello – solo show



This year, the Ravello festival – a renowned celebration of classical music and the arts – program includes the exhibition Standing with Truth by Francesco Clemente featuring a tent from Clemente’s Encampment series.


VILLA RUFOLO, RAVELLO, ITALYFrom 6/07/17 to 30/09/17

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After Omeros – solo show



Francesco Clemente this year will be to bring together contemporary art with the marvelous setting of the Baroque Choir. The artist will lead to Alba his recent works never exhibited in Italy. After Omeros will be composed of two installations and forty watercolors inspired by the epic poem Omeros which earned the writer Derek Walcott the Nobel Prize for literature.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a series of readings, taken from the work of Derek Walcott.

 


CORO DELLA MADDALENA, ALBA, ITALY From 9/15/2016 to 11/13/2016

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A Nomadic Life – solo show



The Springs Center highlights with the solo exhibition « Nomadic Life » the work of the internationally known artist Francesco Clemente. Clemente is considered one of the most representative artists of the Transavantgarde.  For this exhibition, he has spent one month to paint a large mural in the exhibition space, “The Tide of the Ocean of Stories”. His paintings on the wall are visual sediments that embody the deep and profound cultural tones of the two ancient civilizations – India and China. His understanding of the nomadic life is thinking globally and acting locally.

The exhibition’s curator Huang Du brings together large–scale artworks, paintings, murals, works on paper as well as Clemente’s equipment, valuable photographs and documentary films.

 


SPRING CENTER OF ART, BEIJING, CHINAFrom 9/03/2016 to 10/31/2016

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Winter Flowers in NYC – solo show



This exhibition is a tribute to Siena. The artist has created ten new works of art, divided into two distinct cycles, to be exhibited in the city. The series of “Winter Flowers in New York City” consists of five works that engaged the artist for more than five years (2010-2016). This cycle was created in collaboration with the artist’s wife, Alba Primiceri, well-known actress and choreographer, who has picked some flowers in New York in the winter months.

 

 


COMPLESSO MUSEALE SANTA MARIA DELLA SCALA, SIENA, ITALYFrom 06/28/2016 to 10/16/2016

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