“The value of images is to remind the self of its limitations, and at the same time, of the possibility of an endless journey.” – Francesco Clemente

Encampment by Francesco Clemente is now on at Carriageworks. Visit Encampment and share your images on Instagram with #encampmentcw @bresicwhitney for a chance to win an exclusive tour of the exhibition, a night’s stay at The Old Clare Hotel and dinner for two at Automata. 

Artist Francesco Clemente calls himself a modern nomad. Since leaving his hometown of Naples, he has lived all over the world – from New York, Rajasthan and the holy city of Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, India. His latest work is an ecstatic series of tents installed on the groundfloor of Carriageworks. Six large military style tents provide dreamy and sensual structures that can be inhabited and contemplated.

Francesco Clemente’s work, which has been shown at the Guggenheim in New York and the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, is multi-threaded and multi-faceted. Like his personality, his work spans many art forms, philosophies and religions. It has its own symbolic language – with this show reflecting his creative dexterity by incorporating elements of sculpture, painting and collage.

His first major exhibition in Australia, Clemente’s Encampment is a major visual arts moment in the Sydney calendar. The giant work is a Schwartz Carriageworks Project, Proudly Supported by Visual Arts Partner BresicWhitney. Rendered in bright colours, each tent is decorated with an inspirational narrative.

Francesco’s practice is based on collaboration. Tents are produced with the help of artisans in Jodhpur, Indian and the interiors are all free hand painted by Francesco Clemente using tempera.

Powerful and symbolic, the tents reference literature, architecture and science. Tents like ‘Angels’, that deal with the afterworld were painted in Northern New Mexico and here the expressive colours show the influence of the landscape on this work. By contrast ‘Museums’ decorated with images of the museums he has been shown in to date, deals with the subject of death and immortality through twisted self portraits.

“You can really trace back the locations of where every tent has been made. Because there are, for example, in some of the tents particular pinks and yellows that I could have never painted anywhere else, than in India,” says Clemente, admitting his nomadic lifestyle affects what he paints and the light in the work.

Both uplifting and inspiring, these detailed tents appear inspired by deep meditation or poetry. But when it comes to unpacking the spirituality behind the project, Clemente says simply that the meaning of the word meditation sometimes gets lost in popular culture. 

“What is meditation? If mediation is to be present, if meditation is to get rid of one’s fantasies, if meditation is to be able to hear what the world is telling us – then yes, in that sense I use meditation to make my work,” Clemente says with a penetrative look.

Though the title of the exhibition, Encampment, can be viewed as deliberately political, Clemente says his path of protest is exuberant neutrality. “I think my work is fundamentally political, but my way to be political is to step away from the narrative of politics, to turn my back to it and to show my contempt for what is going on by ignoring it, rather than opposing it,” he says.

When asked for the works can be translated for the audience, Clemente encourages people to first investigate for themselves. “First I make these things, and then I ask these questions later,” he says with a laugh. “I guess when you make tents there is definitely a reference to war – as this is one of the place where tents are used. I have always thought of the artist as the antagonist of war and in general the antagonist of power. In a way, Encampment is about facing your enemy and turning your enemy around towards peace,” he says.

While the exhibition inhabits the Carriageworks space, Clemente hopes that people will use the tents to pray, play, meditate and dream.

Fans of his work might even use the tents for looking at his Illuminated Manuscripts, a series of work developed with famous Beat Generation poet Allen Ginsberg during the eighties. “Literature has a tremendous influence on my work. My formative years were spent in Italy reading in translation – a wonderful translator of the beat poets and I still research through literature, I still research through poetry,” he says.

For the artist who collaborated with Allen Ginsberg the impact of of making work with a great poet was direct and long lasting.

“I consider one of the most magical chapters in my life, the fact that I befriended Allen Ginsberg and made ‘Illuminated Manuscripts’ with him. This to me was really a dream come true. It was something that I didn’t even dream could happen,” Clemente says. 

Until 2 September, you are invited to share your own images of Encampment on Instagram with #encampmentcw @bresicwhitney – for a chance to win an exclusive tour of the exhibition, a night’s stay at The Old Clare Hotel and dinner for two at Automata.

Image credit: Francesco Clemente, ‘Encampment’, Installation View, 2016, Carriageworks, Sydney, Photographer: Zan Wimberley.