Francesco Clemente

This catalogue of recent works by renowned Italian painter Francesco Clemente proves that his oeuvre has only grown richer and more complex over the years. The sumptuous, transcendent works presented here are driven in particular by Clemente's instincts about the use of color -- in some he limits himself to warm oranges and greens, creating a soft, sensuous atmosphere that reflects his lifelong love of India and tantrism In other works here, however -- namely the "grisaille self-portraits -- there is an emphasis on black that recalls classic Western painters like Titian and Rembrandt, and points to darker and more intimate areas of the self It is through this meeting and mixture of the aesthetic languages and philosophies of East and West that Clemente has produced his best work, and the work in this monograph testifies to the pleasures of art that ignores boundaries in its investigation into the psychological and spiritual essences of life.