Francesco Arena
Francesco Arena was born in Torre Santa Susanna, Brindisi, in 1978, now he lives and works in Cassano delle Murge, Bari.
Arena starts from history to create his works, in particular from the political and social events that have characterized the recent past. Episodes, which have often been hidden or silenced, take on new life thanks to the synthetic and metaphorical forms of his sculptures.
Francesco Arena’s research is centered around ways of thinking about temporality, questioning the notion of history, by revealing irruptions in the course of things that seem to conform to a linear development marked by causes and effects. The historical and the personal are constantly intertwined in the artist’s work in the representation of historical events based on a factual relationship with himself. We frequently encounter the use of the artist’s anthropometric data (such as weight, body mass, height, distance from his eyes to the floor), acting as tangible figures to quantify history.
Selected works
Cratere
2010
Wood, metal, sand
600 × 400 × 600 cm (236 7⁄32 × 157 15⁄32 × 236 7⁄32 inches)
Keats between cubes
2016
Bronze, steel wire
10 × 15 × 185.5 cm (3 15⁄16 × 5 29⁄32 × 73 1⁄32 inches)
Division of the square (Nietzsche)
2016
Metal, wire, different materials
100 × 100 × 2 cm (39 3⁄8 × 39 3⁄8 × 25⁄32 inches)
Division of the square (a couple)
2018
Bronze, various strings
100 × 100 × 3 cm (39 3⁄8 × 39 3⁄8 × 1 3⁄16 inches)
Cube (The Picture of Dorian Gray)
2018
Moroccan gray stone, The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde
20.5 × 20.5 × 20.5 cm (8 1⁄16 × 8 1⁄16 × 8 1⁄16 inches)
8 Arms with Times
2018
Bronze, analog magnetic musicassette tape
178.5 × 10 × 1 cm (70 9⁄32 × 3 15⁄16 × 3⁄8 inches)
Angolo Stanco (hommage à la mort de Walter Benjamin)
2018
Iron, performer, chair
200 × 200 × 200 cm (78 3⁄4 × 78 3⁄4 × 78 3⁄4 inches)
Marble between 1 year
2018
Marble, agendas
20 × 18.5 × 21 cm (7 7⁄8 × 7 9⁄32 × 8 9⁄32 inches)
Old chair with old shoes, old Capital but new newspaper
2019
Chair, shoes, books, newspaper
40 × 40 × 80 cm (15 3⁄4 × 15 3⁄4 × 31 1⁄2 inches)
Medio, pollice, rosa
2020
Bronze ring
70 × 20 × 6 cm (27 9⁄16 × 7 7⁄8 × 2 3⁄8 inches)
Installation
Les sculptures meurent aussi
2010
Kunsthalle Mulhouse
Mulhouse
Sette, uno, quattro
2015
Galleria Raffaella Cortese
Milan
Autumn Lines
2016
Sprovieri Gallery
London
Bajo el brazo: entre la palma de la mano y la axila
2018
CaixaForum
Barcelona
Escamas
2019
Casa Vicens
Barcelona
Cubic Metre of Seawater as a Diagonal
2019
Sprovieri Gallery
London
Exhibitions
Angolo Stanco
BarcelonaSep 26 - Nov 16, 2018
Francesco Arena’s research is centred around ways of thinking about temporality, by revealing irruptions in the course of things that seem to conform to a linear development marked by causes and effects.
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WATCHDOG-LAPDOG-PLAYDOG
BarcelonaApr 02 - May 07, 2016
“The press is a watchdog. Not a lapdog. A watchdog. Now, a watchdog can’t be right all the time. He doesn’t bark only when he sees or smells something that’s dangerous. A good watchdog barks at things that are suspicious.” -Dan Rather (American journalist and a former anchor for CBS Evening News)
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Meditaremos em silêncio a diferença entre nós
MadridNov 14, 2015 - Jan 09, 2016
Curated by Tiago de Abreu Pinto
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3 Ludwig reflections and 1 horizon
MadridNov 15, 2014 - Jan 17, 2015
The exhibition parts from an investigation around the cabin built by Ludwig Wittgenstein on a fjord in the remote town of Skjolden (Norway) in 1911.
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