Francesco Fontana Solo Show Back in Palermo ~

Genius Loci - The Soul of the City

Here is the presentation of the exhibition by Francesco Fontana that will be held at the Galleria Caravello in Palermo from November 9 to December 7, 2024.

Since I was a boy I have pursued a bohemian idea of ​​nomadism. With my youthful emigration from Palermo to Paris and then to London in the eighties, I sought a symbiosis between life and art. Working as a portraitist in the sun of Montmartre or on cold evenings in front of the National Portrait Gallery in London was a school of life, exhilarating and hard, whose signs can be found today in my pictorial world. As well as the faces and stories of my traveling companions who have been a source of inspiration for me and examples of profound humanity.

Genius loci is latin for the spirit of a place. Over the years I have painted in the most diverse places: from Claude Monet's water lily ponds in Giverny to the rice paddies of Bali, from the ranches of Texas to the cliffs of Dorset. In Sicily, Berlin, New York... everywhere the places have a strong identity, a humanity in motion. My eyes do not chase postcard images, so to speak instagrammable, but seek the energy that pulsates beneath the surface, the soul of those places and of those who live there.

In the works of this exhibition there is no paysage indulgence, not even in the many works painted en plein air. If a place is recognizable it is not its beauty that attracts me but its magic, its mystery, its history, the unsaid. A vision and an experience as personal as symbolic.

Sometimes in the context it is the figures that prevail, like a zoom on the gaze of a man who tells about the place and a story. Many characters are part of a series called Street Business -- people who make ends meet on the street in the most diverse ways. I know the joys and sorrows of that life, in those faces I find a bit of myself, of the young street artist I once was.

Different subjects require different techniques. Watercolor has been my medium of choice in recent years, which has allowed me to be awarded and recognized on the international circuit, becoming a signature member of the American Watercolor Society and the National Watercolor Society - the two American organizations that historically promote the art of watercolor in the world. A fascinating and complex medium, capable of expressing all the power of contemporary reality.

This return to Palermo after a long world wandering excites me. It is a privilege to share my works with you, new generations and friends of the past. I invite you to explore the world with my eyes. Before starting a new chapter of this extraordinary journey!