Clemente revisited 2010

Clementeportrait2010

Clementewatercolour#12010

Clementewatercolour#22010

Dear Everyone:

Saw 2 Francesco Clemente paintings

in the October isse of House Beautiful

mounted on a wall in a dining room.

The interior designer is a friend

of Clemente's.

Watercolours of horses they are

very striking.

Clemente resides in New York,

Italy and India. He was born in

Naples, Italy in 1952. He travelled

to India at the age of 19 years

and developed an interest in

Hinduism and Buddhism which

shows up in his work.

He has said that he is a a painter

by default as he didn't wish to

do or be anything else.

Clemente describes painting

as something he does and if not

he gets physically sick.

He sees it partly as manual

labour.

He reports that he may not

have put forward his best

signature work yet out of

a sense of procrastination.

He did collaborate with

Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel

Basquiat during the years

they were productive
(and alive) in the late 1970's.

He says that his peer's

opinion of his work means more

to him than the public as his

peers will be with him late

in life whereas the public may

not be. There is more permanency

with peers.

Hope you enjoy

this startling work.

Helen.