Francesco Clemente
Wedding, 2010
Oil on canvas
81 1/4 x 70 inches (206.5 x 177.8 cm)
© Francesco Clemente; Photo by Elon Schoenholz; Courtesy the artist and Vito Schnabel Gallery
Francesco Clemente came to prominence in the late 1970s and cemented an international reputation with his participation in the 39th edition of Venice Biennale in 1980. He is most closely associated with the Transavanguardia movement in Italy and recognized as an influential figure of Neo-Expressionism in the United States. Clemente’s generation came of age amidst the politicization of Italy, where conceptual artistic strategies and the dogmatism of Arte Povera prevailed. Against this background of conflict, Clemente chose to concentrate on painting as a model of inner reconciliation and went on to explore a contemplative and symbolic mode of painting that revolved around images of the body as the boundary between inner and outer self.