Francesco Vezzoli
In conversation with Thibaut Wychowanok
"It was love at first sight. When I saw the Memphis show in September '81 in Milan. I had just got a big apartment in Monte Carlo. And had no idea how to furnish it. I had never lived in a modern building. I wanted it all modern and instantly thought that Memphis would be the Art Deco of the '80s. I was right. The influence was enormous. Memphis tried to breathe fresh air into the word "design." And what I like about all the Memphis stuff is its humor."
— Karl Lagerfeld
On the occasion of the exhibition 'Francesco Vezzoli presents: KARL GOES TO MEMPHIS Tribute to a historic encounter in Monte Carlo', Almine Rech Monaco organized a talk between Thibaut Wychowanok, Editor-in-chief of Numéro art magazine, and Francesco Vezzoli.
Francesco Vezzoli was born in 1971, in Brescia, Italy. He studied at the Central St. Martin’s School of Art in London. One of the most successful contemporary Italian artists, his work can be described as a series of strong allegories about contemporary culture, with a rich subtext of elaborate references involving video installations, petit-point embroideries, photography, live performances, media experiments and -most recently- classical sculpture.
His works have been selected four times at the Venice Biennale: at the 49th, 51st and 52nd art editions held in 2001, 2005 and 2007, respectively, and at the 2014 Architecture Biennial. His works have also been featured in other international exhibitions such as the Whitney Biennial 2006, the 26th Biennale in Sao Paulo, the 6th International Biennale in Istanbul and Performa (2007 and 2015). He has also held solo shows around the world in venues such as the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York; Tate Modern, London; MOCA, Los Angeles; MoMA PS1 in New York; MAXXI, Museo Nazionale delle Arti del XXI secolo, Rome; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Kunsthalle, Wien; Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich; Museum Ludwig, Cologne; The Garage CCC, Moscow; The Power Plant, Toronto; Jeu de Paume, Paris; Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Turin; Museo Serralves, Porto; Fondazione Prada, Milan; Le Consortium, Dijon; Fondazione Museion in Bolzano and NMNM - Nouveau Musée National de Monaco.
