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Francesco Clemente is a self-taught painter and published poet who was born in Naples, Italy in 1952; he also went to school for Architecture in 1970 in Italy (Biography 1) (Clemente 1). In 1973 Clemente made his first trip to India, where he now spends part of each year studying the Buddhist religion and the Sanskrit language, the classical language of India. (Clemente, 1). He moved to America in 1980; he and his family mainly reside in Greenwich Village in New York City, his art studio is nearby (Sischy, 1). When asked in an interview about his process of deciding who he will paint he speaks about a persons status set and that it is not the persons achieved status that helps him to decide, it is that he is fascinated by whats behind the mask, which is something frail, yet at the same time reassuring, because it remains. (Sischy, 3). In the same interview Clemente is asked about his self-portraits Where are you in your head when you paint them?
Clemente speaks of his own reflexivity in response to the question: In my head I am in one of those Buddhist caves where you see a thousand Buddha faces on the wall. In my head I am on my seventeen-year-old acid trip, when I saw my personas fall one minute after another, as if I was dying every moment. I'm at the age where I don't need an acid trip to feel naked. To feel that I don't exist. Now a self-portrait is almost a reminder to me that I do exist, at least for a foreign eye.
What I make are collected feelings, so I think the only way for me to see my work and not feel that I'm crazy is to see it through someone else's eyes. Your feelings exist if someone else feels the same. Otherwise you might think you really are crazy. (Sischy, 4). Clemente's numerous self-portraits, the first done in 1976 have been called ironic (Francesco 1) In her article Francesco Clemente's India the author, Gini Alhadeff goes in search of what inspires Clemente. She got advice from the artist himself on the areas she should visit in India. In the beginning of her article she speaks of a Yoga master from Madras when asked why he thought foreigners come to India on spiritual quest, he replied that he didnt know; when pressed further, he suggested, Because they are mad.
He found it odd, perhaps, that people who have every access to every comfort, and possess a healthy body and mind, should believe salvation to have taken up permanent residence in India. (Alhadeff, 1). Perhaps the Yoga master finds it difficult to believe that a society that is capable of creating a material culture finds it necessary to look to other countries (let alone other people) to come up with a satisfactory non-material culture. Or perhaps these foreigners are searching for something new and different that is not readily available in their own area, perhaps they are trying to search out the answers they seek in order to refute the ideas of cultural relativism. Towards the end of her article Gini Alhadeff speaks of an experience she has while shopping in Madras. I went to the Gandhi cooperative and bought cotton sarongs in every color of the rainbow, the legendary green and blue Madras checks, and fine braided leather chapels. Then I asked to see a white shirt.
A pile of lavender ones was brought to me. I said I liked the style, and did it come in white. But madam, the salesman replied patiently, this is white. Indian bleach turns whites a pale lilac. From the moment you become used to this possibility, that white can be lilac, the world and its seemingly rigid realities start to float pleasantly. Did I get zapped?
Yes, and the mind stopped chattering. " (Sischy, 5). This is a prime example of the Sapir-Who Hypothesis, if we were unable to make this correlation in this instance this experience would have had a completely different outcome. Also by becoming aware of a new way of seeing the author realizes that she cannot judge (or expect another culture to do things the same way she does) by the terms of her own culture (cultural relativism). I also put that same quote up on my family website (there was also a link to the complete article, and a disclaimer that what they had to say would have the opportunity to be in this paper, with their permission) and asked for the opinions of others. It could be called controlled participant unstructured interview. It truly is controlled, only my family members (25 people) can access the site; it is also participant due to the fact that I participated (I responded to what they had to say) and last but not least it was unstructured in that people were able to respond in an open-ended manner.
The result: In the 4 days the quote and the article were up 10 people read what was posted and only 2 responded, but all 10 read the responses and still had nothing to say. My Uncle had this to say: There is no reality, only each person's perceptions of their experiences. My Aunt (his wife) had this to say: The "rigid realities" don't belong to the world, but to this person. She only believes the world shares her opinion because she believes her opinion to be the corrections. If they were unable to share language she would have gone away believing that this man doesn't sell "white" shirts.
Only all the rainbow colors including a pale lilac. Human beings are the only creatures that use spoken / written language, does this help or hinder? The shirts remain the samet there is his "reality" and her "reality " like Larry said... reality ain't real! !
My opinion? I agree completely with my Aunt and Uncle. Reality is what we perceive it to be and interpret it as. Those perceptions and interpretations are mainly based on our history and experiences, However that does not mean that we cannot change our perceptions and interpretations- it is not easy but it can be done, if you want to. Works Cited Alhadeff, Gini. Francesco Clemente's India.
Travel + Leisure Oct. 2000 Also found on the Web at web - 7 B 78 - 4265 - 9 DE 9148 DD 6 FFDF 14 & method = display Biography of Francesco Clemente. Last accessed on 12 / 11 / 01. web Clemente, Francesco. Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2000 web 1997 - 2000 Microsoft Corporation.
All rights reserved Francesco Clemente. Last accessed on 12 / 10 / 01. web Amazing artist of silent poetry: Francesco Clemente. Interview July, 1997. Last accessed on 12 / 11 / 01 at: web 0 /m 1285 /n 7 v 27 / 20803816 /p 1 /article. jstl?
term = francesco+come nte
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