Franko B: From Blood to Embroidery in New Autobiography

Franko B, the Milan-born artist known for his blood performances, released his autobiography 'Because of Love' (Live Art Development Agency, London 2018) at age 59. The 164-page book, started in 2015, covers his childhood in an Italian orphanage in Brescia and a Red Cross institute, his move to London in the late 1970s, punk music, early nightclub performances, and the creation of a personal artistic language. He now works with embroidery on paper or canvas, ceramic figurines and houses, found-object installations, and photography documenting homeless people, abandoning bodily fluids. In a lecture at MACRO Rome, he stated: 'I am not a Performance Artist... The most likely conclusion is that I am a failed painter.' He distinguishes being 'marginal' from 'marginalized' and says his performances always made people cry, citing Jennifer Doyle's text on his Tate Modern performance 'I Miss You'. The autobiography includes illustrations by Giuditta Fullone, daughter of critic Francesca Alfano Miglietti. He wrote it during a difficult period when his partner was in a coma.