From 10 October 2026 to 29 March 2027, we will host the first appointment of the project “Oltreconfine. Arte italiana 1968-1989”, conceived by Arturo Galansino with exhibitions curated by Francesco Guzzetti

“Francesco Clemente. Il primato del disegno. Opere 1975-1985”, curated by Francesco Guzzetti, will run from 10 October 2026 to 29 March 2027.

The exhibition path

The exhibition focuses on the early phase of Francesco Clemente’s work, one of the leading figures of international contemporary art. Starting from a core group of works shown in the artist’s main solo exhibitions in the second half of the 1970s, the exhibition offers an insight into the evolution of Clemente’s art, from his beginnings under the sign of photography to his arrival at painting. The common thread of the exhibition is drawing, interpreted in its profound meaning as a balance between discipline and invention. By giving increasing space to freehand drawings with recognisable yet hermetic subjects – created with great technical virtuosity and pictorial materials such as coloured pencils, pastels and watercolours – Clemente introduced the return to figuration and painting that characterised the artistic generation that emerged at the end of the 1970s. The self-portraits produced from that moment onwards marked the artist’s international affirmation at the beginning of the 1980s. Accompanied by an illustrated catalogue featuring entries on all the works and critical essays, the project benefits from the collaboration of important Italian private collections and institutions, such as the Collezione Maramotti, and from the fundamental contribution of the Intesa Sanpaolo collections, thus bringing back to public view works that have often not been exhibited for decades.

The project Oltreconfine. Arte italiana 1968-1989

The exhibition is part of the broader project “Oltreconfine. Arte italiana 1968-1989”, with artistic direction by Arturo Galansino and exhibitions curated by Francesco Guzzetti. The project marks a new step in CAMeC’s path of growth, research and enhancement, strengthening its role within the national and international contemporary art scene. The concept of “beyond borders” evoked by the title has three meanings. The first is chronological, as it focuses on a season that moves beyond the boundary represented by the emergence of Arte Povera and reaches the threshold of the historical transition between the 1980s and 1990s, characterised by the questioning of the artist’s very identity through the forms of conceptual art and the subsequent return to painting. The second meaning is geographical, because the period was marked by the hybridisation of influences from different cultures and worlds, but also because the relevance of Italian artists crossed national borders, placing them at the forefront of the international scene. The third implication concerns the very nature of the research carried out by artists at the time, capable of moving across different practices, techniques and experiments, crossing from one medium to another and contaminating the most diverse genres of artistic expression. The exhibitions in the cycle therefore reveal the multifaceted, open and fluid nature of Italian art, while also showing its deep coherence and cultural awareness, in a unique mixture that has had, and continues to have, an international resonance beyond national, chronological and artistic boundaries.

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“With the exhibition dedicated to Francesco Clemente, we intend to begin a journey that is not only an assessment of a fundamental season in Italian art, but also an opportunity for scientific work involving critical and philological analysis of lesser-known episodes in the careers of the protagonists of that period. The exhibitions will offer an opportunity to confirm the relevance and richness of CAMeC’s cultural programme, open to the local community but also to the Italian and international debate on the status and legacy of post-1968 art. In line with the objectives of the newly established scientific committee, CAMeC is, for us, the ideal place to launch this programme of research and enhancement of Italian contemporary art, in dialogue with the cultural offering that will take shape within the museum.” Arturo Galansino and Francesco Guzzetti