Venice, Elisabetta Franceschini and the paintings on the motorcycle: three works at the Biennale
There motor painter he works in the Lagoon, right where cars and motorbikes cannot go. In a world of design, computers and software, thanks to which the lines of two and four-wheeled vehicles take shape, she, Elisabetta Franceschini, 53 years old, tells the soul with his oil paintings. He doesn’t paint for a living, but for passion. His work actually expresses another side of his artistic streak: he creates the typical papier-mâché masks of the Venetian theater in his workshop in Campo Santa Maria Mater Domini. An ancient and increasingly rare artisan tradition that is in danger of being lost due to Chinese industrial competition.
Between engines and brushes
«Painting represents a profound expression of myself that I have cultivated since I was a child – says the artist
we meet in the historic shop a stone’s throw from Rialto -. Of course, I went to art school and twenty-five years ago, with my sisters, they started working with papier-mâché. A beautiful activity learned in the artisan workshops, with a lot of passion, creativity and dexterity, following the masked masters. Today in our laboratory, we try to continue the tradition and preserve a culture that belongs to us ». Engines are a family passion and the first love was the legendary Ciao, then many Vespas and the Aprilia Pegaso 600, but the two wheels that capture it from an artistic point of view are the Harley Davidson. «Because they are unique means. In reality I look at cars and motorcycles as works of art and I draw inspiration from them – explains the painter -. Through the study of shapes, details, chrome plating I try, through portraits, to interpret their soul. Sometimes not only of the means, but also of the owners ». In fact, Elisabetta Franceschini began painting when a friend of hers, five years ago, asked her to portray him with her motorcycle.
Landing at the Biennale
Broken ice he combined his admiration for motorsport champions with a love for canvas. In this way he combined the portraits of the greats of the two and four wheels with the paintings for friends. On the occasion of the second edition of the Rally Meeting at the Fiera in Vicenza last February, he gave the two-time world champion Miki Biasion a painting of his legendary Lancia Delta HF integral and on the occasion to his friend Franco Picco an oil that portrays him in action during the Dakar: a tribute to a driver who is a legend of the desert race more in the world, with his 66 years and 30 participations. Certainly there was no lack of “variations on the theme” and this seems to be the future of Elisabetta Franceschini artist cis planning the creation of three new works that will be exhibited, on the occasion of the Biennale, at the Collective of Modern Art, “Altre Metà Del Cielo”which will be held next from 1 to 17 July at the Officine Forte Marghera in Mestre.
Three women and three works
Nino Esposta, the curator, was inspired by the fact that the 59th Venice Biennale was curated by a woman and that the theme – “The milk of dreams / The milk of dreams” – was inspired by an artist, Leonora Carrington , to set up the collective by inviting, with Elisabetta Franceschini, nine other artists: Cristiana Battistella, Rosie Cesare, Giuliana Cobalchini, Lara Monica Costa, Elena De Rocco, Elisabetta Duminuco, Marija Markovic, Ina Mirzac and Paola Volpato to interpret the ideas of the Biennale. So Elisabetta Franceschini chose to tell the story of three women whom dreams and technology have made immortal taking a cue from a phrase of the curator of the Biennale, Cecilia Alemani: “The idea that technology can make human beings eternal and invincible …”. The first of his paintings will talk about Amelia Earhart, aviator of the late nineteenth century originally from Kansas. She was a nurse in the First World War, she was second only to Lindberg, in 1931, to successfully attempt the crossing of the Atlantic, Earhart the following year was the first woman to fly across the United States without a stopover. She will die in 1937 on the second attempt to travel around the world. The second work will concern the adventure of the Italian Maria Teresa De Filippis, first Italian woman to race in Formula 1. From the first to the Giro di Sicilia in 1948, De Filippis raced with Fiat, BMW, Osca, up to entering the top Formula in 1958 on Maserati, not only challenging opponents of great fame, but above all fighting against the prejudices of the time. Bessie Stringfield, the American queen of two wheels, the queen of Harleys, will be the inspiration of the latest work by Elisabetta Franceschini who wanted to pay homage not only to the woman who left to cross the States in 1930 at the age of 19, but also to the African American who fought against prejudice and racism: always on the saddle, always on the road. With the bike as home. And while she works on these three characters Elisabetta Franceschini does not forget her mechanical means on two wheels, with canvases that express strength and above all the joy of living, recalling mythical characters and means (like her latest work, La Poderosa Che Guevara’s historic motorcycle) in balance between Marinetti and Botero, winking at Salvador Dalì.
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July 3, 2022 (change July 3, 2022 | 18:32)
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