Sergio Risaliti on Francesca Banchelli’s ‘Event’ and Her Upcoming Duel Show at Museo Novecento

Sergio Risaliti, artistic director of Museo Novecento in Florence, profiles artist Francesca Banchelli in an Artribune article. Banchelli, who lives and works in the countryside near Florence, recently completed a painting titled 'Event,' which depicts a couple (evoking Eve and Adam) seated on a rock amid a storm, with a faithful dog at their feet. Risaliti compares the work to Paul Klee's 'Angelus Novus' and Walter Benjamin's concept of history. He invited Banchelli to participate in the museum's 'Duel' project, where she chose to dialogue with Scipione's painting 'Apocalisse' from the Alberto Della Ragione collection. The project was conceived before the COVID-19 pandemic, which Banchelli sees as a time of isolation that echoes her artistic themes. Banchelli works across performance, video, drawing, painting, sculpture, and installation, often collaborating with her partner Emiliano Zelada. In a recent performance, she involved critic André Lepecki, a dancer, and a trained dog. Risaliti praises her ability to connect different media and her philosophical approach to art as essential to human evolution. Banchelli's routine has shifted during lockdown, spending more time in nature with her two-year-old son and working in her studio at unusual hours. Her upcoming exhibition at Museo Novecento will feature new works created during the pandemic.