Francesco Clemente Quotes

I first think of intelligence. You need it for surviving in Italy because Italy is so pompous.

We are not naturally intelligent, or happy. In fact, every day it is harder to remain intelligent. It seems often that people get intelligent through pain, but you can't be sure because nobody really can say, "I've been suffering".

When you sit for an hour and a half in front of somebody, he or she shows about twenty faces. And so it's this crazy chase of, Which face? Which one is the one?

When I look at a drawing of a person, I look at that person as living.

In India and in New York the economy is naked. People are starving physically in India, and emotionally in New York.

If you want to compete in Italy, the only accepted ways are brute force, or cunning. Like Machiavelli says, "Fronte otra forze." And neither of these two "virtues" is suited to an artist. The artist has to stay intelligent.

It is very scary to think mechanically about someone you know. That means that the second time you meet a person is useless. Which I tend to believe anyway.

Painting is like making love. You cannot ask, 'How do you do it?' But, hopefully, it is beautiful.

And dilettantism is a humorous way to survive. Everybody understands you for it and everybody hates you for it. And not everybody chooses to be a dilettante. Many choose cunning and brute force.

Fashion is the pursuit of perfection, Style is the acceptance of one's flaws.

I repeatedly refuse to make any practical decisions. I get a feeling of nausea about practicality.