Francesca DiMattio

b. 1981

Born in New York, New York, 1981; Lives and works in New York, New York

I’m interested in dissolving images and materials that evoke and describe a kind of upper-middle-class lifestyle. My materials reference things that are desired, but the making of each work necessitates a kind of crumbling or breaking down of the structure of that desire. — Francesca DiMattio

Artwork

Exhibitions

10.12.2019–01.05.2020
Statues
Art Omi

Francesca DiMattio

06.27–08.09.2019
Group Show
Salon 94 Bowery

Paint, Porcelain And Pulp

03.06–04.21.2018
Boucherouite
Salon 94 Bowery

Francesca DiMattio

04.01–05.07.2015
Domestic Sculpture
Salon 94 Bowery

Francesca DiMattio

06.01–08.30.2014
Housewares
Blaffer Art Museum

Francesca DiMattio

02.28–05.05.2013
Vertical Arrangements
Zabludowicz Collection

Francesca DiMattio

03.16–04.20.2012
Table Setting and Flower Arranging
Salon 94 Bowery

Francesca DiMattio

02.09–03.13.2009
2009
Salon 94 Bowery

Francesca DiMattio

10.08–11.10.2006
New Work
Salon 94 Bowery

Francesca DiMattio

Biography

Francesca DiMattio’s (b. 1981) practice combines a cacophony of influences, which she applies in a layered and non-hierarchical approach to her work. Her sculptures draw from the rich tradition of ceramics, merging contrasting references and styles within each fluid construction. In both her sculpture and painting, she discovers ways to weave together the history and artistry of craft, transposing it from a practice of quiet control into one that seems unpredictable, explosive and shifting. Similarly, she mixes high and low, East and West, the historical and the contemporary. In her newest works made of porcelain, she mines the rich history of the medium, alluding to an almost encyclopedic lineage: English Rococo vases, Turkish tiles, Islamic Fritware, Viennese Du Paquier, French Sèvres porcelain, Wedgwood figurines and Meissen vases are all sources. She pairs these historical antecedents with references to contemporary kitsch, like Chintzware, mass-produced glass vases, floral-patterned tissue boxes and Laura Ashley bedsheets.

DiMattio’s work is currently included in Ceramics in the Expanded Field at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, North Adams (MA). Recent solo exhibitions include Statues at Art Omi, Ghent (NY) in 2019; Boucherouite at Salon 94 Bowery, New York (NY) in 2018; Francesca DiMattio: Housewares at the Blaffer Art Museum, Houston (TX) in 2014; and Vertical Arrangements at the Zabludowicz Collection, London (UK) in 2013.

Recent group exhibitions include Vessels at Nina Johnson, Miami (FL) in 2021; the 2019 Invitational Exhibition of Visual Arts at the American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York (NY); and Groundbreaking: Innovations in Clay at the Kimball Art Center, Park City (UT) in 2017.

The artist’s work is in the collections of the Perez Art Museum, Miami (FL); the Frances Young Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs (NY); the Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse (NY); the Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University, Waltham (MA); the Saatchi Gallery, London (UK); and the Zabludowicz Collection, London (UK)

CV

Press

11.01.2019
Francesca DiMattio Statues
Robert R. Shane

The Brooklyn Rail

03.06.2018
The Artist Testing the Limits of Ceramics
Mimi Vu

T Magazine

01.01.2018
Carved from Nature

Garage Magazine

11.03.2015
Francesca DiMattio’s Instable Stability
Emily McDermott

Interview Magazine

04.23.2015
Review: Francesca DiMattio, 'Domestic Sculpture,' at Salon 94 Bowery
Roberta Smith

The New York Times