Francesco Cannone

interview myself

 

January 2021

 

 

Two of my quotes

I paint abstract art to express the poetry of my heart through shapes and colors

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Abstract art is part of my being and it is an art with which I came into the world

 

 

 

 Hello, first of all thanks for the invitation, I'm really excited and happy .

 

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Francesco Cannone was born in 1964 in a provincial town a few kilometers from Bari. He grew up in a family, with his two older sisters Marisa and Vita, where commercial activities and creativity predominated.

 

His father and mother, both children of art, in fact carry out activities in the textile trade, tailoring for children and then fashionable confections for adults.

 

His father, although also a self-taught artist and musician, but a staunch supporter of the work, imposes bans on him both for dance and for school (Francesco in fact felt inclined towards the art school and as university studies he would have attended the faculty of architecture) manages however to graduate in accountancy with a tourist orientation in a private institute in Rome.

 

Between the ups and downs of the family entrepreneurial activities Francesco perceives inner uncertainties that push him to escape more often from home following his own instincts and therefore, albeit with the support of his mother and sisters, he studies modern dance which he then abandons, but continues to paint abstractly occasionally, travels a lot making friendships, even important ones, throughout Italy. He spends a few months in Miami in Florida with his mother's uncle with the intention of settling in the USA but failing to return to Italy and spend several years in Rome, to then return home permanently and live with his parents.

 

In 2017 Francesco, after his father's passing 12 years earlier, also lost his mother, a hard blow for him because he had a great bond with her, but due to his limited finances he was forced to roll up his sleeves and start with more determination to seek visibility for his art and therefore begins a path albeit uphill but made up of many artistic recognitions also important following many group exhibitions also supported by his friend Damiano Bove director of Mò Heart a local cultural association that presents him to the local community in two particular and unusual personal exhibitions at the Traetta Theater.

 

Then the knowledge of Fabrizio Checchi president of the Amedeo Modigliani Foundation in Rome who selects him for the Moovart project with which an artistic collaboration is created.

 

Do you remember the first artwork you made? What was it and how old were you? What is the shape of your artistic path since then?

 

Unfortunately I don't have any photographic documentation but I was 12 years old when, following a reprimand from the middle school art teacher for a figurative drawing assignment not really done well at home, he made me do it again, giving me a few days. It was that I had to draw doodles. The professor was so happy with the result that he exhibited this drawing made on a large cardboard and with spirit colors, in the school corridor. And he did the same for all the other abstract drawings that he had me paint in the first year of middle school and also in the following two years.

To this day, I continue to paint always in an abstract way without ever having passed through drawing or figurative painting but above all in freedom. 

 

Tell us about some highlights of your artistic career, such as memorable names, shows, exhibitions in which you have exhibited

 

An important and exciting moment was presenting my first personal exhibition in the beautiful Municipal Theater of my town (2018), but in an unusual way, that is, during an evening of music, poetry and dance, my paintings, suspended in the void, formed the scenographic background .

 

At this important event my dear mother would have had a front row seat who unfortunately passed away a few weeks earlier. I armed myself with strength and courage helped by the creator of the evening Damiano Bove who pushed me not to give up. In the following months, between various appearances in art journals and the presence in group exhibitions, unexpectedly Fabrizio Checchi, president of the Amedeo Modigliani Foundation, involves me in the Moovart project, making me exhibit in Naples, Liverpool, Florence and also announcing New York towards the end of the 2020 which unfortunately has been suspended for the reasons we all know.

 

 

What styles and artistic movements are reflected in your painting?

 

I have always painted and drawn instinctively and without rules and I have continued this way since middle school and I have never had any teachings or wanted to attend courses or the academy.

 

Many years ago the architect Guido Marra from Rome asked me if he could publish some of my digital paintings that I had made in that period and I was surprised by the criticisms that he dedicated to my works in which he made references to Wassili Kandinski or others such as Mirò, Kline , Arshile.

 

 

Why did you decide to become an artist?

I am extremely convinced that Artists are born.

 

 

What is the work that marked you the most?

 

Each work created is a sign, it is a creation, it is a tangle of unimaginable emotions and work that only an artist can understand, and create it in a few hours or months. However, having to make a choice to answer the question, I say The "Music of the spheres" and "Leonardo's infinite intuitions" two very heartfelt works with which I applied (a few months after the closing of the applications) to the XII Florence Biennale in 2019 passing the selection of the International Commission of the Biennale with full marks. However I had to give up due to lack of financial availability, so the search for a Sponsor in the too limited time I had available was not enough.

 

 

If your works could talk… what would they say about the artist? 

They would say that Francesco is a born artist! with all its flaws, its shortcomings and its strengths.

 

 

What does success mean to you?

 

Actually, I like success and I don't like it in the sense that I don't chase it. But given my calm character and thinking with a sense of responsibility, also considering the sacrifices, when success arrives I'm certainly happy but I always remain in the emotional balance so with my feet on the ground.

 

 

Is the artistic life lonely? What do you do to counter it?

 

For me, solitude is positive, it depends on how you want to live it. My choice, because anyone can choose in full awareness, goes towards positive solitude or rather I am very busy, primarily with my art, trying to make my life in solitude dynamic and interesting.

 

However, I think sharing is a nice important and civil gesture to feel good with others too.

 

 

What do you intend to tell the public with your abstract art?

 

Through my sensitivity I often intend to communicate themes belonging to the conscience! In my dreams I always receive useful advice from my inner self,

however, and I repeat it often, there is nothing academic in my art but only pure instinct.

I think there is rationality in the choice of colors, I said I think and then one of my characteristics is to paint large works!

 

      

 

Besides making art, what do you like to do?

 

I particularly like meditation, I'm healthy, I like nature, the sea, I prefer raw vegetarian and fruitarian cuisine, architecture, furniture, and driving the car!

 

 

What is your philosophy in matters of art?

 

Paint what I like by listening to my interiority, my unconscious, my dreams. 

 

 

What is the best advice you have been given?

 

 

Be yourself with all your flaws.