Denis Defrancesco

Do you believe that a thought, a childhood memory or a person having shared a moment in your life can become a work of art? 

Art has always been the driving force behind my actions. I am a self-taught, multifaceted artist. 

Born in 1954, I was led by my rebel spirit to drift away from school, after my teenage years, to devote myself to my passion: photography.

Recognised internationally as a major photographer, I was given the opportunity to travel around the world and meet diverse personalities and civilisations. From Paris to Los Angeles, via Tokyo and Singapore, I collaborated for three decades with nearly all the glamour magazines across the planet.

Impelled by a deep-felt desire to transcribe and convey my vision of the world to the world, I decided to end my career as a photographer in 2014 to fully invest myself in the creation of contemporary artwork. 

Today, I am inviting you at the heart of my universe, reflecting the multifarious array of startling, sometimes puzzling stagings, which all retrace, with an acute sensibility, my life path. 

As an Epicurean art designer, I work relentlessly. While rooting my work in real world events, I seek to exorcise my inner demons. I do not consider certain pieces of my artwork to be vulgar… The sole aim is to understand and know why these art pieces emerge from my imagination and come into existence. 

Tormented on occasion, some of them bear the mark of Outsider Art and contain many references referring to my childhood, to religion, tolerance, injustice, sex under all of its aspects, but above all to my love for freedom, in its broadest sense and under all of its aspects. 

The expression in my artwork is enhanced by subtle and poignant accompanying texts which I invite you to read, so as to more deeply embrace what is hidden behind each of my creations. 

My belief in Contemporary Art and determination helped me pursue my quest for success, as when I was chosen for a first exhibition hosted by the GAA Foundation's Gallery during the Viva Arte Viva Biennale, in Venice, in May 2017. 

“I create what I feel, while leaving my imprint" – Denis Defrancesco.