Was very lucky to catch this retrospective of Francesco Clemente pastels, spanning four decades, on show @levygorvy. The 35 works – curated by architect and long-time friend of Clemente, Bill Katz – featured portraits, self portraits, figurative and mythological subjects, and unapologetic and metaphorical sexual imagery. I fell madly in love with Clemente after seeing his retrospective at the Guggenheim in 1999, which charted 25 years of his career. 

What always draws me is Clemente’s obsession with the human body and his ability to depict the erotic, the unmediated libido, the sexual taboos, the places of connection, pleasure, and birth, all while remaining contemplative and psychical. And it always seems that his subconscious is not below the surface of his conscious, but alongside it, if such a position were possible.