Following the success achieved at the Triennale di Milano, former RUFA student Francesca Leone has established herself as one of Italy’s most prestigious artists. Her works are exhibited in leading galleries, both in Italy and abroad, consolidating her position within the contemporary art scene.
Her most recent exhibition, entitled “Giardino”, was hosted in Rome and marked the culmination of a new artistic direction. After years dedicated to creating extraordinary portraits inspired by contemporary icons, Francesca Leone embarked on a shift towards a more conceptual language. On this occasion, she exhibited a large grate embedded with urban waste, alongside monumental reinforced-concrete “canvases”. These elements evoke her new urban vision, through which the artist renews her commitment to social critique against indifference and disrespectful behaviour towards the planet.
Her “sculptural paintings” celebrate this new phase of her artistic research, while maintaining the formal elegance that has always distinguished her work. The installation was created thanks to the unwitting contribution of hundreds of people who, by leaving waste and objects in the streets, filled the gaps in the grates. Today, these spaces offer tangible evidence made up of cigarette butts, plastic, stones, paper, keys, coins and other fragments of our urban life.
