Francesco Clemente
Porta Coeli, 1983
Tempera on linen
103 x 93 inches (261.6 x 236.2 cm)
© Francesco Clemente
Courtesy the artist and Vito Schnabel Gallery
At the Triennale di Milano comes In Between, a major retrospective dedicated to Francesco Clemente, and it is one of those exhibitions that seems specifically designed to remind us that truly interesting artists never stand still, neither geographically nor mentally. The roughly seventy works on display span forty years of practice without ever giving the impression of a “summary exhibition.” Quite the opposite. Everything is in constant motion. Bodies change shape, symbols migrate from one culture to another, spirituality coexists with desire, intimacy with myth. Clemente has always worked within a suspended space, “in between,” precisely, where East and West, refined painting and visionary imagination coexist without asking permission.