Francesco Vezzoli

Francesco Vezzoli is an Italian artist born in Brescia in 1971. His work combines video, photography, embroidery and sculpture, bringing classical art and theatrical traditions into contact with celebrity and mass media. He studied at Central Saint Martins in London during the 1990s.

Projects such as Trailer for a Remake of Gore Vidal’s Caligula use recognisable performers and cinematic conventions to explore spectacle and the construction of public images. His embroidered portraits similarly transform familiar faces, including Maria Callas, into objects poised between devotion and artifice. His work has been shown at the Venice Biennale and MoMA PS1.