Francesco Clemente: Encampment

Overview

Some big things have been gracing the polished cement floors of Eveleigh's contemporary arts precinct, Carriageworks, this year. Off the back of the first major exhibition of El Anatsui's work for Sydney Festival in January comes the arrival of acclaimed Italian artist Francesco Clemente, as a part of the Schwartz Carriageworks project series.

Taking over an enormous 30,000 square feet of exhibition space, Encampment brings six of Clemente's embellished large-scale tents to audiences for a two-month stint. Referencing the last three decades of his nomadic existence, living in transit between India and New York, this exhibition sees an epic culmination of his craft.

In collaboration with a community of talented artisans from Rajasthan, India, each temporary dwelling is layered with intricate, bejewelled patterns and evocative imagery depicting physical love and bodily pleasure. Paired with Clemente's four altar-like sculptures Earth, Moon, Sun and Hunger, plus the inclusion of 19 erotically-charged paintings from the series No Mud, No Lotus (2013-2014), the space functions as a place of visceral introspection.