Before leaving for Japan, where he will exhibit in the Italian pavilion at Expo 2025 in Osaka, Francesca Leone presents the imaginative reconstruction of an autobiographical desert to the Gnam of Rome from tomorrow 25 March to 18 May to 18 May, taken from dreams and memories and made of large roses and rocks in recovered metal.
The “Izzz … desert” installation immersed in a composition of sounds and noises of nature, in fact, recalls the arid landscapes of the films of the artist’s father, Sergio Leone. It is a suggestive set of metal sculptures, which represent rocks of the desert and bright roses, accompanied by the music of Marco Turriziani, which combines the hum of bees with the whisper of the wind and metal rulings.
For about fifteen years, Francesca Leone explores the theme of the reuse of materials recovered from abandoned construction sites and abandoned places in her work. Materials that testify to the passage of time, protagonist of the surface of the sculptures on display. “The artist’s intervention with the color alludes to a reborn and regeneration, even in an arid context like the one evoked in this exhibition”, explain the organizers.
If the author is in the imaginative desert of her life
Leone therefore invites us to reflect on the importance of having care, not to let go and give a second life, embracing different spheres: from human relationships to the protection of the environment that surrounds us. In a frenetic and inattentive society, the artist wants to direct his gaze and listen to nature and his need to be cared for.
Born from a family of artists, Francesca lives and works in Rome. In the last ten years he has exposed three times to the Venice Biennale, first in the Italian Pavilion, then in that of Cuba and finally in 2022 with the personal exhibition Take Your Time among the collateral events; In important international museum institutions such as the Momma of Moscow, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Santiago del Chile, the Macba – Museum of Contemporary Art – of Buenos Aires; The Museum of Fine Arts of S.Pietroburg, as well as in various Italian museums such as the Milan Triennale, the Macro Museum of Rome, the royal hotel of the Poor of Palermo and the Sala delle Colonne in the Gallerie d’Italia in Milan.
In 2023 Francesca Leone was selected by Maxxi together with the MIC to represent Italy at the G20 in India as part of the “Together We Art” exhibition at the Bihar Museum in Patna. In 2024 the artist was chosen to participate in the Italian pavilion in the Expo ’25 in Osaka.