Francesco Vezzoli Overview

Francesco Vezzoli's work plays on a dark fascination with the luster and decadence of celebrity and the treadmill of fame and extends a whole tradition of artists, from Andy Warhol to Douglas Gordon, dealing in their work with Hollywood and cinema.... [more]

Francesco Vezzoli's work plays on a dark fascination with the luster and decadence of celebrity and the treadmill of fame and extends a whole tradition of artists, from Andy Warhol to Douglas Gordon, dealing in their work with Hollywood and cinema. Vezzoli has collaborated with charismatic, aging divas whose time in the limelight has past, as in his films An Embroidered Trilogy (1997'“99), for which he sought out three Italian film idols from his childhood: Iva Zanicchi, Franca Valeri, and Valentina Cortese. Alongside his film work, and sometimes in them, Vezzoli practices needlepoint, embellishing black-and-white film stills of Edith Piaf or Maria Callas, for example, with stitched metal tears or sparkling eye shadow. [Whitney Biennial 2006] [show less]