Francesco Clemente

Francesco Clemente was born in Naples in 1952, and in 1971 he held his first solo exhibition at the Galleria di Valle Giulia in Rome. In the same year, he began traveling throughout South America and Asia, eventually opening a studio in the Indian city of Chennai, formerly known as Madras. Starting in 1979, he became associated with the Transavanguardia movement theorized by critic Achille Bonito Oliva, becoming one of its leading figures alongside Enzo Cucchi, Sandro Chia, Nicola De Maria, and Mimmo Paladino. Francesco Clemente’s work began gaining recognition in the mid-1970s through vivid paintings filled with dreamlike imagery. Fascinated by Indian art and mysticism, his gouache paintings and pastel drawings are known for their intense and arcane content, often considered close to the religious sphere and becoming increasingly surreal in his more recent works. Clemente’s artworks explore profound introspection: magnetic self-portraits and constantly transforming bodies, archaic symbols, and fluid chromatic tones give rise to organic scenarios that celebrate the deepest essence of the self. Beginning in the 1980s, Francesco Clemente achieved international recognition, exhibiting at the Venice Biennale before moving to New York City, where he collaborated with Andy Warhol, Kenny Scharf, and Keith Haring. He currently lives and works between New York and Varanasi.