ANDREA FRANCOLINO
Artistic residency at Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Paris
Andrea Francolino participated in an artist residency at the Italian Cultural Institute in Paris, an experience that represented an important opportunity for research and reflection for the artist. The one-month stay in Paris made it possible to closely follow the evolution of his work, further enriching the artistic path that characterizes his practice.
At the core of Francolino’s practice is the crack, understood in its universality and in its many variations, without prejudice or critical connotation. His research develops across different disciplinary fields, including aesthetics, ethics, and ecology, establishing a constant dialogue between art and nature. His production is based on an approach he defines as econcrethic, a term he coined to describe an art in which ecological awareness, concreteness, and ethics merge into a unique language through the use of natural materials in the creation of artworks. During this residency, Francolino had the opportunity to explore new research directions, deepening his reflection on the fragility and paradoxes of contemporary society through sculpture and installation. His work continues to question the relationship between human beings and the environment, highlighting the tensions and interconnections between what is artificial and what is natural.
Special thanks to the Italian Cultural Institute in Paris and to Mazzoleni Gallery.
Andrea Francolino, born in Bari in 1979, has exhibited his works in numerous solo and group exhibitions, establishing himself within the contemporary art scene. Among his most significant solo exhibitions are those at Mazzoleni in Turin in 2022, Museo Novecento in Florence between 2020 and 2021, and Spazio Contemporanea in Brescia in 2020. In 2018 he presented his work at Spazio Aperto San Fedele in Milan and at The Open Box, also in Milan, a non-profit space of which he is among the founders. Other notable exhibitions include those at nm>contemporary in the Principality of Monaco in 2017, at Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery in London in 2016, and at Galleria San Fedele in Milan in 2015. Among his early solo exhibitions is the one held at Spazio Testoni in Bologna in 2013.
At the same time, his work has been included in numerous group exhibitions. In 2022 he exhibited at The Open Box in Milan and created a site-specific work in the Church of SS. Giusto e Bartolomeo in Legoli, Peccioli. In 2021 his works were presented at Woolbridge Gallery in Biella, at the Italian Embassy in London, at the Austrian Cultural Forum in Rome, at nm>contemporary in the Principality of Monaco, at Palazzo Barbò in Torre Pallavicina, and at Mazzoleni Gallery in Turin. The previous year he had already participated in an exhibition at CAMERA – Centro Italiano per la Fotografia and Mazzoleni in Turin, as well as in a show at the gallery’s London venue. In 2019 his work was presented at AGI Verona and the University of Verona, while in 2018 he exhibited at Villa Dionisi in Verona. Earlier participations include exhibitions at Palazzo Palmieri in Monopoli in 2017, at Frittelli Arte Contemporanea in Florence in 2016, and at The Loft in Brussels in the same year. In 2014 he took part in several exhibitions, including those at Quartiere Intelligente + MADRE in Naples, EXPO Gate and Premio Artivisive San Fedele in Milan, as well as a show at Spazio Testoni in Bologna. In 2012 he exhibited at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London, while in 2011 his work was presented at Palazzo Guidobono in Tortona and at the Italian Cultural Institute in New Delhi. Earlier still, in 2010, he exhibited at Spazio Oberdan in Milan and Villa Ponti in Arona. Among the recognitions he received, in 2013 Francolino won the San Fedele Prize with the work Et onne Tempo, a reflection on fragility and contemporary consumerism.