Francesco Clemente, Essay Example

The paintings of Francesco Clemente can be said to revolve around the theme of abstractions and distortions of human consciousness consistent with the expressionist movement. Clemente’s concern is with the potentiality of consciousness to produce radically varying images, which therefore shifts human perception away from the merely quotidian and everyday. In other words, Clemente’s art can be understood as an attempt at a liberation of the human consciousness in order to realize its potential through his aesthetic depictions of an obscure side of human reality. Clemente’s work thus may be situated within the aforementioned genre of expressionism, with the simultaneous presence of influences tied to explorations of the human consciousness that were prevalent in the psychedelic scene of the 1960s. At the same time, Clemente differentiates himself from his influences to the extent that he thinks such subjective experiences through their origin in a common human reality and nature. Although Clemente uses abstruse imagery, the latter is informed by the underlying motif that such consciousness is a part of nature. In other words, Clemente’s work is not individualistic, but can be considered as an attempt to offer objective portrayals of reality through the realization that the essentially heterogeneous potentiality of consciousness is derivative of a shared human nature, shared in the sense his images may be found in the experiences of all people, and furthermore, that such images are part of a common nature that constitutes the world. As Clemente himself makes clear: “an artist makes an ethical choice – he deals not so much with the world of ideas, but with the world of forms. And the world of forms does not make deals.” (Rousseau & Lewis) Thus, despite the wild imagery of Clemente’s paintings, there is an underlying realism at the heart of Clemente’s work, realism that is derived from the notion that subjective expressionism is an individual depiction of a non-individual reality.

Clemente’s work is often situated within both the surrealist and expressionist traditions. He is viewed as a crucial figure in the “international revival of Expressionism.” (Nairne and Howgate 141) Whereas difficulties in defining expressionism are notorious, according to the term’s “vagueness and open-endedness” (Elger 2), some of the key motifs of expressionism can nevertheless be found in its “certain awareness of life” (Elger 9) and a commitment to “the rhythm of nature alone” and ”the painter’s personal emancipation.” (Elger 10) Accordingly, expressionism suggests an emphasis on the subjective experience of the painter, and thus the work of art becomes a depiction of subjective consciousness and perception. Yet insofar as the subject and the human are a part of the world, this subjectivity remains tied to a shared source and origin that is nature. Hence, although subjective consciousness may be anomalous, as evidenced by the dreamlike quality of much expressionist art, this subjectivity points to a pre-subjective dimension that allows for such diverse experiences to occur. Thus, the subjective experience is not juxtaposed to nature, but rather the diverse imagery of expressionism is tied to the potentiality of nature and the different types of consciousness and subjective expression that may exist. Such an understanding of expressionism is certainly clear in the work of Clemente. As Clemente himself states, much of his work is founded in the belief “that there are basic experiences like hunger, like death.” (261) These basic experiences as common to human nature are interpreted by Clemente through subjective means, as each individual experiences hunger and death differently. Accordingly, Clemente’s expressionism ties itself to the subjective expression of basic experiences that are in fact objective. Hence, Clemente’s expressionism can be viewed as differing from other forms of expressionism, insofar as he emphasizes the shared root of all possible forms of expression as derived from a common nature to which all subjects belong. Consider, for example, Clemente’s “Water and Wine” (1981). The painting depicts a mythological scene with a naked man, woman and half bull/half cow. The woman lies on the ground drinking from the animal’s udders, while the man holds the decapitated head of the animal. The animal is held upright by a harness. At first glance, the scene appears as an expression of a mythological narrative that consists of a fusion of Greek myth and the Adam and Eve of the Old Testament. Yet this mythological scene, for Clemente, is no less real. Insofar as Clemente is combining these images, he is referring to certain archetypical and basic motifs common to mythology across cultures: These motifs are shared features of the human experience. Clemente thus conceives these fantastic stories as realistic expressions of the workings of human consciousness. That is, insofar as mythical stories are similar in content and form across cultures, they are consistent expressions of the human perception of the world and thus indicative of the power of the human consciousness to create radical imagery from its own reality. The line-work of Clemente in “Water and Wine” compliments this reading, as Clemente employs a primitive drawing style that stresses a simplicity of form. Such a simplicity evokes the imagery of the archaic and ancient nature of these images, underscoring that all humans belong to a shared origin. It is this shared origin that allows for the emergence of diverse consciousnesses and imagery that are reflections of this origin. The use of a basic palette of colors also supports this view, as Clemente is interested in a kind of naturalism that suggests a cross-cultural context that can be understood by all, despite the painting’s expression of subjective consciousness.

Hence, although Clemente emerges within a greater expressionist scene that emphasizes accounts of subjective consciousness, Clemente can be said to differ from these influences by returning to a non-subjective element that is central to his subjective expression by noting the common root of such subjectivity. Arguably such a unique interpretation of subjectivity according to its belonging to nature differentiates Clemente’s work from his contemporaries and influences. This is reflected in both the content of his imagery and the form with which he portrays it.

In terms of the contemporary issues that Clemente addresses, it can be said that Clemente’s non-subjective view of subjectivity corresponds to viewpoints of human existence that do not oppose man with nature, but rather realize man as a part of nature itself. Through his wild expressions of consciousness, Clemente does not create anti-realist works of art, but rather wishes to show the potentiality of nature to produce diverse subjective visions. Clemente’s work invites one to re-think the traditional gap that is posited between nature and culture, through an integration of human culture into nature. Clemente’s expressionism is not an antithesis to nature, but is realized as consistent with nature’s potentiality to create radical forms of expression. Clemente’s work thus mobilizes the possibilities inherent to nature itself, while at the same time stressing the common origin of all such subjective experience.

Clemente’s contributions to expressionism can thus be viewed in terms of a continuation of the subjectivity inherent to expressionism, while at the same time showing how this subjectivity is, in a deeper sense, non-subjective. By using ancient mythical sources and emphasizing the basic experiences of human life, Clemente combines the archetypical nature of existence with individual interpretations of these archetypes. At the same time, his particular painting style reflects this choice, by using a primitive technique that recalls an ancient and common origin of subjective expression within nature. Such motifs assert Clemente’s contemporary relevance, as he provides a means of thinking man’s relation to nature not in terms of an antagonism, but rather as a commitment to man’s belonging to nature.

Works Cited

Clemente, Francesco. Interview with Robin Wright (1981). Theories and Documents of Contemporary Art: A Sourcebook of Artists’ Writing. Eds. Kristine Stiles and Peter Howard Selz. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1996. Print.

Elger, Dietmar. Expressionism: A Revolution in German Art. Koln, Germany: Taschen, 2002. Print.

Nairne, Sandy and Sarah Howgate. The Portrait Now. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2006. Print.

Rousseau, Bryant and Jacquelyn Lewis. Artists Speak Out at Global Creativity Summit. ARTINFO. Web. 14 Nov. 2006. 21 Nov. 2010. <http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/24262/artists-speak-out-at-global-creativity-summit/>.