francesco arena
biography
Francesco Arena was born in Mesagne, Brindisi, in 1978. He lives and works in Cassano delle Murge, Bari.
To create his works Arena starts from History, especially from the political and social events that characterize the recent past. In his works, episodes of the past – often hidden or hushed up – gain new life through the synthetic and metaphorical forms of his sculptures.
A number of solo exhibitions have been devoted to Francesco Arena, including: Letto, The Open Box, Milan (2019), Orizzonte, Art Unlimited, Art Basel (2017), Francesco Arena. Perimetro con quattro opere in uno spazio, TRA Treviso ricerca arte, Treviso (2016); Jannis Kounellis – Francesco Arena, Palazzo Baronale, Novoli, Lecce (2015); Francesco Arena: Posatoi, Olnick Spanu Art Program, Garrison, NY (2014); Onze mille cent quatre-vingt sept jours, Frac Champagne-Ardenne, Reims (2013); Trittico 57, Museion, Bolzano (2012); Com’è piccola Milano, Peep Hole, Milan (2011); Art Statement, Art Basel (2010); Teste, Fondazione Ermanno Casoli, Fabriano (2010); Cratere, De Vleeshal, Middelburg (2010).
Francesco Arena was born in Mesagne, Brindisi, in 1978. He lives and works in Cassano delle Murge, Bari.
To create his works Arena starts from History, especially from the political and social events that characterize the recent past. In his works, episodes of the past – often hidden or hushed up – gain new life through the synthetic and metaphorical forms of his sculptures.
A number of solo exhibitions have been devoted to Francesco Arena, including: Letto, The Open Box, Milan (2019), Orizzonte, Art Unlimited, Art Basel (2017), Francesco Arena. Perimetro con quattro opere in uno spazio, TRA Treviso ricerca arte, Treviso (2016); Jannis Kounellis – Francesco Arena, Palazzo Baronale, Novoli, Lecce (2015); Francesco Arena: Posatoi, Olnick Spanu Art Program, Garrison, NY (2014); Onze mille cent quatre-vingt sept jours, Frac Champagne-Ardenne, Reims (2013); Trittico 57, Museion, Bolzano (2012); Com’è piccola Milano, Peep Hole, Milan (2011); Art Statement, Art Basel (2010); Teste, Fondazione Ermanno Casoli, Fabriano (2010); Cratere, De Vleeshal, Middelburg (2010).
Works by Francesco Arena have been included in several group exhibitions, among which: The Paradox of Stillness: Art, Object, and Performance, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2020); There will never be a door. You are inside. Works from the Coleção Teixeira de Freitas, Santander Art Gallery, Madrid (2019); The Humans, Kunstmuseum St. Gallen (2018); Sculpture Projects Ping Yao, Pingyao (2018); Re-Evolution, MAXXI, Rome (2017); Mario Merz Prize, Fondazione Mario Merz, Turin (2017); La dissidència nostàlgica, La Capella, Barcellona (2016); Par tibi, Roma, nihil, Area archeologica del Palatino, Rome (2016); The 3rd Nanjing International Art Festival, Baijia Lake Museum, Nanjing (2016); Toute première fois, 22 Visconti, Paris (2016); Ennesima, Triennale di Milano (2015); Ritratto dell’artista da giovane, Castello di Rivoli (2014); Vice Versa, Italian Pavilon, 55 Biennale di Venezia (2013); La storia che non ho vissuto. Testimone indiretto, Castello di Rivoli (2012); Sotto la Strada la Spiaggia, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin (2012); Il bel paese dell’arte, GAMEC, Bergamo (2011); Pleure qui peu rit qui veut – Premio Furla, Palazzo Pepoli, Bologna (2011); Temporaneo – contemporary art in the evolving city, organized by Nomas Foundation and IMF Foundation, Rome (2010); Practicing Memory – In the time of an all – engaging present, Fondazione Pistoletto, Biella (2010); Les sculptures meurent aussi, Kunsthalle Mulhouse (2010); Annisettanta. Il decennio lungo del secolo breve, Triennale di Milano (2007).
gallery exhibitions
images
Letto, 2019
Installation view at The Oper Box, Milan, 2019
Copper and ash
80 × 190 × 50 cm
Photo: Roberto Marossi
Letto, 2019
Copper and ash
80 × 190 × 50 cm
Photo: Roberto Marossi
Ardesia con minuto (rettangolo), 2019
Slate, magnetic tape
81 × 61 cm
Photo: Nicola Morittu
Ardesia con minuto (rettangolo), 2019
Slate, magnetic tape
81 × 61 cm
Photo: Nicola Morittu
Ardesia con minuto (rettangolo), 2019 (detail)
Slate, magnetic tape
81 × 61 cm
Photo: Nicola Morittu
Ardesia con minuto (quadrato), 2019
Slate, magnetic tape
71 × 71 × 2 cm
Angolo quinto, 2019
Bronze
20 × 20 × 20 cm
Photo: Lorenzo Palmieri
Blow Stone, 2018
Fior di pesco marble
152 × 69 × 27 cm
Photo: Nicola Morittu
Blow Stone, 2018
Fior di pesco marble
152 × 69 × 27 cm
Photo: Nicola Morittu
Blow Stone, 2018
Fior di pesco marble
152 × 69 × 27 cm
Photo: Nicola Morittu
Marble between 20 years, 2018
White marble, diaries
16,5 × 16,5 × 21 cm
Photo: Lorenzo Palmieri
Marble between 12 years, 2018
Marble, diaries
16,5 × 16,5 × 21,5 cm
Photo: Lorenzo Palmieri
Cube (Le città del mondo), 2018
Carrara marble, "Le città del mondo" by Elio Vittorini
22,5 × 22,5 × 22,5 cm
Photo: 2019
Eisenhower between cubes, 2016
Stone, ground, steel wire
204 × 11 × 13 cm
Photo: Lorenzo Palmieri
Roosevelt between cubes, 2016
Bronze, steel wire, wood
10 × 218 × 15 cm
Art Basel Unlimited 2017
Orizzonte, 2012
steel beam, soil
Photo: Sebastiano Pellion di Persano
Orizzonte, 2012
steel beam, soil
Photo: Sebastiano Pellion di Persano
Novantatremiliardi di albe, 2016
Sardinian granite, white bronze, cement, steel
170 x 250 x 350 cm
Novantatremiliardi di albe, 2016 (detail)
Sardinian granite, white bronze, cement, steel
170 x 250 x 350 cm
Installation view of Sette, Uno, Quattro at Galleria Raffaella Cortese, via Stradella 1, Milan, 2015
I giorni (57), 2015
bronze
166,5 x 10 x 10 cm
Photo: Roberto Marossi
I giorni (110), 2015
bronze
166,5 x 10 x 10 cm
Photo: Roberto Marossi
Installation view of Sette, Uno, Quattro at Galleria Raffaella Cortese, via Stradella 4, Milan, 2015
Installation view of Mario Merz Prize: Finalists exhibition | 2nd Edition, Fondazione Merz, Turin, 2017
Photo: Renato Ghiazza
Autoritratto (omaggio ad Alighiero), 2016
Bronze and incense
166,5 x 32 x 32
Photo: Lorenzo Palmieri
Autoritratto (omaggio ad Alighiero), 2016
Bronze and incense
166,5 x 32 x 32
Photo: Lorenzo Palmieri
Extrême Occident, 2013
Book
166 × 15 × 2,5 cm
Photo: Martin Argyroglo
Extrême Orient, 2017
Book
166 × 15 × 2,5 cm
Photo: Roberto Marossi
Extrême Orient, 2017
Book
166 × 15 × 2,5 cm
Photo: Roberto Marossi
Extrême Occident, 2013
Book
166 × 15 × 2,5 cm
Photo: Martin Argyroglo
Divisa mimetica nel vuoto di un'aureola, 2008
Divisa mimetica dell’esercito italiano, aureola in metallo zincato, luci, impianto elettrico
35 × 20 × 35 cm
public exhibitions
Kunstmuseum St. Gallen
St. Gallen
The Humans
15.9.2018 – 17.3.2019
Photo: Sebastian Stadler
Art Unlimited, Art Basel
Basel
2017-06-15
Orizzonte, 2012-2017. IPE iron beam, earth
18.6.2017
Photo: Sebastiano Pellion di Persano
Fondazione Merz
Turin
2017-03-08
Mario Merz Prize. Finalists exhibition | 2nd Edition
21.5.2017
Photo: Renato Ghiazza
55th International Art Exhibition - la Biennale di Venezia
Arsenale di Venezia
Venice
Massa sepolta (Burgos, Benedicta, Batajnica 02, Ivan Polije), 2013, Soil, wood, concrete, iron
1.6 – 24.11.2013
Photo: Roberto Marossi
55th International Art Exhibition - la Biennale di Venezia
Arsenale di Venezia
Venice
Massa sepolta (Burgos, Benedicta, Batajnica 02, Ivan Polije), 2013, Soil, wood, concrete, iron
1.6 – 24.11.2013
Photo: Roberto Marossi
press
Atrocity Exhibition: Francesco Arena’s Politics of Imperceptibility
Frieze
March 8, 2019
publications
Francesco Arena, 5468 days
Skira
Milan
2019
Francesco Arena, Six Horizons, Six Roads, Ten Landscapes
Cura Books
Rome
2017
Francesco Arena - Perimetro con quattro opere in uno spazio
Pixartprinting
Venice
2016
Francesco Arena – Works 2004/2014
Cura Books
Rome
2014
Francesco Arena - Posatoi
MIA-Magazzino of Italian Art
New York
2014
Masse Sepolte
Cura Books
2013
Francesco Arena
Edizioni Èxòrma
Rome
2011