Francesco Vezzoli

Vezzoli works with different media, including embroidery and video. His embroidered projects focus on pop icons and his love of film. These projects include alternate portraits of movie stars working for famous directors. He focuses primarily on creating film and video art. His projects often involve creating real or imagined television productions, such as pilot episodes of television series that will never be broadcast or trailers for films that will never be shot. In his work, Francesco Vezzoli explores the power of contemporary cultural media and the ambiguity and instability of what constitutes truth. His work includes satirical trailers for films that will never be produced, such as the remake of Gore Vidal’s Caligula (2005), an advertising campaign for a fictitious perfume, and elaborate site specific performances with superstars. In a 2010 series, Vezzoli recreates images of 15th- and 16th-century paintings of the Madonna and Child, replaced by supermodels such as Claudia Schiffer, and affixes large tears, makeup, and tattoos to their faces using his technique.

He has recently exhibited in solo and group shows such as: Fondazione Prada, Milan (2005); Gagosian Gallery, Beverly Hills, CA (2006); Whitney Biennial, New York (2006); Gagosian Gallery, Rome, Italy (2009); SFMoMA, San Francisco, New York (2011); MAXXI, Rome, Italy (2013); MoMA PS1, New York, USA (2014); OCA Museum, Sao Paulo (2016); Fondazione Prada, Milan (2017); Collection Lambert, Avignon, France (2019); Piazza della Signoria and Palazzo Vecchio, Florence, Italy (2021).