© Stéphane Aboudaram I Wearecontent(s)
Wings of Desire is a new body of work by Italian contemporary artist Francesco Clemente. Unveiled in the recently launched Oscar Niemeyer Auditorium, the new series features six unseen large-scale paintings by the artist centred around the iconography of angels and inspired by Clemente’s ongoing fascination with Islamic mysticism through the writings of Henry Corbin and his personal encounters with Sufi teachings and music.
Drawing upon Clemente’s ongoing use of esoteric themes of sexuality and spirituality, the imagery in Wings of Desire has arisen from a diverse and complex range of cultures, remote legends and forgotten ages, alluding to English poet and painter William Blake, Shiism, and the Swedish Christian theologian Emanuel Swedenborg. Both concise and contemporary, Clemente’s work is an expression of the artist’s quest to ponder the arcane and fully understand life as non-linear.
Clemente says: “Angels are indifferent to cultural climates and so am I. Painting is my modest and megalomaniac attempt to recover the hearing of the soul.”
More information at: Château La Coste