Francesco João , Salvatore Emblema
Curated by Massimiliano Scuderi
Francesco João (b. 1987) lives and works between São Paulo, Brazil, and Milan, Italy.
He attended the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera in Milan, Italy.
His painting practice focuses on exploring the conceptual foundations of painting. By deconstructing the gestures and materials of painting, João’s works investigate the ambivalence between calculated simplicity and excessive complexity, questioning the very nature of the painterly medium. They are rooted in a tradition that regards painting as a continuous form of exercise aimed at defining its essential properties and...
Salvatore Emblema was born in Terzigno (Naples) in 1929. After attending the art institute and the Coral School of Torre del Greco, his research began in Rome, where he moved in 1948, bringing with him his first works: collages of dried leaves ("fullographies") whose success opened the doors to the artistic circles of Via del Babuino. During the 1950s, he experimented with new materials, moving from leaves to stones and volcanic earth, which appeared in the works exhibited in his first solo shows, starting with the one in 1956 at the Galleria San Marco. In the same year, he went to the United States, where he embarked...
