Friends (2010)

Measure the days you have left. Do just that labor
which marries your heart to your right hand: simplify
your life to one emblem, a sail leaving harbor
and a sail coming in.
—Derek Walcott, from Omeros

Fluidity is also the power of transformation. We cannot be others than ourselves, but painting can blur, open, or even confuse our preconceptions on the borders between self and other.
—Francesco Clemente

Well known for his intense friendships and creative collaborations, Clemente channeled these personal relationships into his watercolor Friends (2010). Featuring a figure taking a graceful dive off the foot of a much larger figure, the work links the two through Clemente’s use of color and a composition of elegant arcs. In doing so, Friends dramatizes how friendship augments our lives and leads us to new possibilities of existence.