Artist Talks: Francesco Clemente

Francesco Clemente was born in 1952 in Naples, Italy. He came to prominence in the late 1970s and cemented an international reputation with his participation in the 39th edition of Venice Biennale in 1980. Clemente’s practice seeks alternative narratives and images of contemporaneity, finding creative refuge in the philosophical, spiritual, and aesthetic ideologies of the East. Before settling and establishing his studio in New York in 1980, Clemente lived on and off for ten years in India, where he studied Sanskirt as well as Hindu and Buddhist literature, educating himself in the library of the Theosophical Society in Chennai (formerly Madras). In New York, Clemente continued to collaborate with poets such as Allan Ginsberg and Robert Creeley, and artists as Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat. In 2002, Clemente was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His work has been presented at numerous international institutions, including Nationalgalerie, Berlin; Philadelphia Museum of Art; Royal Academy of Arts, London; Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Bologna; Guggenheim Museum, New York; Guggenheim Museum Bilbao; and Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence. His work is featured in many prominent museum collections worldwide, including the Art Institute of Chicago; Miami Art Museum; Kunstmuseum Basel; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao and New York; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; The Museum
Artist Talks is a programme organised by the Fondation Beyeler and UBS in which internationally renowned contemporary artists speak about their work. The talks have an open, dynamic format and range from traditional artist talks to moderated conversations between artists and prominent figures from the art world. The Artist Talks are held at the Fondation Beyeler in Riehen/Basel and at other art institutions in Europe, Asia, Latin America and the USA.