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.