Fire 1982

Francesco Clemente made this watercolour called Fire, sometime during his career, and it's interesting how the process seems both immediate and thoughtful. Look at that palette of reds, yellows, and greens. It’s like a strange, internal landscape, right? The surface has this transparent quality, really luminous. The paint isn’t overworked; it’s like he's letting the medium do its thing, allowing for imperfections. Those thin, almost blood-red lines around the eyes, contrasted with the vivid red lips – it's kind of unsettling, yet compelling. The plant like lines crossing the face suggest a sort of fusion with nature, or perhaps a sense of invasion. It's this combination of vulnerability and rawness that gets me. Clemente reminds me a little of Carroll Dunham in his early work, with that same playful use of figuration and colour. But who knows, maybe he was looking at something else entirely. That's the thing about art, it’s always a conversation.