Francesco Clemente
India II, 2019
Oil on canvas, 96 x 92 inches (243.8 x 233.7 cm)
© Francesco Clemente; Photo by Argenis Apolinario; Courtesy the artist and Vito Schnabel Gallery
Francesco Clemente, the Italian painter, has been deeply inspired by India since he first visited the country in 1971.
In the decades since, he has immersed himself in Hindu spiritualism as well as local pop culture, studied Sanskrit and incorporated techniques he learned directly from Indian miniaturists and Bollywood poster painters within his work. When he’s not in New York or Rome, he spends a portion of the year in Chennai or Varanasi.