Purple Magazine
— F/W 2010 issue 14
Francesco Clemente
photography by JACK PIERSON
style by PAMELA LOVE
The 1980s saw a revival of big, brash, museum-style painting, one generated by baby-boomer artists like Schnabel, Salle, and Basquiat from the US; Baselitz, Lupertz, and Penck from Germany; Gérard Garouste from France; and the three Cs from Italy’s Transavanguardia: Chia, Cucchi, and Clemente. FRANCESCO CLEMENTE, born in 1952, remains the most prominent member of this group.
Clemente studied literature and architecture, and in the early ’70s he journeyed to India with his artistic mentor, Alighiero Boetti, all of which played an important part in his artistic development. In 1982 he moved to New York, where he showed at galleries such as Mary Boone’s, collaborated with Basquiat and Warhol, and made books with numerous writers and poets, including Allen Ginsberg, Harry Mathews, and Robert Creeley. He even played a hypnotherapist in the movie Good Will Hunting. Since the ’80s there have been exhibitions of Clemente’s work in many of the world’s major galleries and museums, including retrospective exhibitions at the Solomon Guggenheim Museum in New York.
Clemente continues to divide his time between New York and India, and the differences between these two worlds may well have helped determine his style, which is a combination of almost surrealistic figuration with matte, watercolor-or-batik-inspired surfaces on canvas or paper. His Zen-like personal style might also be a result of his experiencing this East-West, materialist/anti-materialist multiculturalism.
We wanted to photograph Francesco in his beautiful New York loft studio, wearing the clothing of his favorite men’s designer, Comme des Garçons.
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Francesco’s own jacket COMME DES GARÇONS, brown 501 Original jeans Levi’s, black leather shoes BATTISTONI, Francesco’s own vintage shirt and antique ring from India
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White cotton poplin small collar shirt DIOR HOMME, Francesco’s own suit COMME DES GARÇONS, and black leather shoes BATTISTONI
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Francesco’s own black wool pants COMME DES GARÇONS and brown leather shoes BATTISTONI
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Francesco’s own suit and shirt COMME DES GARÇONS, ring LUIGI SCIALANGA, and gold Riva sneakers OLSKEN
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Francesco’s own jacket and shirt COMME DES GARÇONS, bay blue 501 Original jeans LEVI'S, and hat BORSALINO
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Detail of a Francesco Clemente paiting in his studio
