Francesco Clemente
Victory, 2021
Watercolor on paper
60 x 80 inches (152.4 x 203.2 cm)
© Francesco Clemente; Photo by Elon Schoenholz; Courtesy the artist and Vito Schnabel Gallery
‘Twenty Years of Painting: 2001-2021’ is on view through January 6 at the historic Santa Monica Post Office.
Vito Schnabel’s first memory of the Naples-born, New York–based painter Francesco Clemente is an early ’80s fresco that hung in the Manhattan apartment the gallerist once shared with his parents, clothing designer Jacqueline Schnabel and artist Julian Schnabel, and his siblings. The young Schnabel has also been friends with Clemente’s sons since childhood, and he still fondly remembers the artist taking the time to drive them all to Saint Ann’s School in Brooklyn amid the chaos following September 11.