Francesco Clemente is an Italian contemporary artist. He has lived at various times in Italy, India and New York City. Some of his work is influenced by the traditional art and culture of India. He has worked in various artistic media including drawing, fresco, graphics, mosaic, oils and sculpture. He was among the principal figures in the Italian Transavanguardia movement of the 1980s, which was characterised by a rejection of Formalism and conceptual art and a return to figurative art and Symbolism. Early Life & Education Born and raised in Naples, in Campania in southern Italy, Francesco Clemente was artistically inclined even as a young child: he grew up writing poetry and painting. Clemente came from a family with aristocratic roots and studied classical languages and literature in school. In 1970, he enrolled in the faculty of architecture of the Sapienza, the University of Rome. Just before completing his degree, Clemente decided to leave the program, turning instead towards fine arts. Yet the young artist remained in Rome, immersing himself in the artistic milieu of the city and the art history it offered. Career Rome, India & the 1970s In Rome, Clemente surrounded himself with contemporary artists, writers, and poets, such as Luigi Ontani and Alighiero Boetti, who had come to the city at about the same time, and also with the American Cy Twombly, who lived there. Boetti, who was ten years older, became both a friend and a mentor; in 1974 they visited Afghanistan together. With Ontani, Clemente gave performances at the Galleria L'Attico. This generation of artists is associated with the Arte Povera and Conceptual movements, as they came of age during a time of political turmoil in Italy. And yet, despite his close involvement with these artists associated with the Arte Povera movement, and his interest in others such as Pino Pascali and Michelangelo Pistoletto, Clemente preferred to work on paper. Clemente turned away from some of the prevailing tenets of Arte Povera, and looked inward for representation in paintings and drawings. He made ink drawings of dreams and recollections of his childhood, and in 1971, in his first solo show, exhibited collages at the Galleria Giulia in Rome. Clemente & Boetti in India: In 1973 Clemente made the first of many visits to India. He established a studio in Madras (now Chennai), and became interested in both the religious and folk traditions of India and