Francesco Vezzoli

Who is Francesco Vezzoli?

Francesco Vezzoli is an Italian artist and filmmaker. He studied at the Central Saint Martins School of Art in London from 1992 to 1995. In 2002 his films were the subject of a one man exhibition at the New Museum in New York City curated by Dan Cameron. His "Trailer for the Remake of Gore Vidal's Caligula"—featuring Courtney Love as the title character, along with Helen Mirren, Benicio del Toro, Milla Jovovich and Vidal himself—was his entry at the 2005 Venice Biennale, where he and Giuseppe Penone represented Italy. The film was also screened as part of the 2006 Whitney Biennial. In 2007 he was again included in the Venice Biennale in the Italian pavilion with his video piece "DEMOCRAZY" starring Sharon Stone and the French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy as a pair of U.S presidential candidates. On November 14, 2009 Lady Gaga performed her song Speechless on and at a pink Steinway & Sons piano decorated with painted-on butterflies, the song was sung while ballet dancers from the Bolshoi Theatre, danced alongside Gaga in a performance art number directed by Vezzoli. He is represented by the Gagosian Gallery.

On November 25, 2013 "The Church of Vezzoli", the MoMA PS1, New York City section of his three part retrospective, "The Trinity" was cancelled after the church he arranged to buy in the town of Montegiordano for deployment in the exhibition is remanded in Italy prior to its leaving the country for the United States.