Invited to speak at New York University by Kiki Smith and Valerie Hammond, where the two teach a class in printmaking, Francesco Clemente etched a portrait of Smith, his longtime friend, during the duration of the class. In true collaborative spirit, Hammond inked the plate and pulled a proof on the spot at NYU. The result is an enchanting depiction of Smith looking out at the viewer with large, searching eyes, a feature found in many of Clemente’s figurative images.

Smith and Hammond brought Clemente’s etched plate to the Neiman Center where they both have worked on numerous prints with master printer, Nathan Catlin. He then worked with Clemente to produce the edition.

Born in Naples, Italy, in 1952, Francesco Clemente briefly enrolled as an architecture student at the University of Rome, in 1970. Throughout the 1970s he exhibited drawings, altered photographs and conceptual works across Europe. Since 1973 he has frequently resided and worked in India. In 1981 Clemente moved to New York City, where he currently lives with his wife and children. His work has been the subject of numerous exhibitions, including a full retrospective organized by the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1990 and the Guggenheim Museum, New York in 1999–2000.

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