The second anthological exhibition on the work of the neapolitan artist in his native city after the exhibition at the National Archeological Museum in 2003. A selection of about 140 works executed over the last 30 years.
The exhibition examines to what extent the history of Italy – and Naples in particular – has constantly inspired the art of Francesco Clemente over the last 30 years. Based on his travels and encounters, Clemente’s work brings into play a large number of ideas, all mixed together, throwing into doubt the human processes of seeing, naming and understanding: from Greek and Roman myths to the teachings of the pre-Socratic philosopher Heraclitus, the school of neo-Platonic philosophy founded by Plotinus in Rome in the 3rd century AD, and the theories about the art of memory and the ambiguity of Eros formulated in the 16th century by the Neapolitan monk Giordano Bruno. Using the tools of linguist and anthropologist Gregory Bateson, through his art, Clemente examines the difference between substance and form. In doing so, he also probes into the processes of selection which appear to determine the survival or extinction of certain inter-weavings of thought.