Biography
Francesco Calistri (b. 1991, Pistoia) is an Italian painter based in Rome.
His work investigates the instability of perception through a practice that moves between figuration and dissolution. Rooted in a classical training developed in Florence and Milan, his painting has progressively shifted toward a more open and indeterminate visual language.
Working primarily with oil on canvas, Calistri constructs images that emerge and disperse within the pictorial surface. Recent works focus on vegetal forms, treated not as subjects but as transient presences that resist fixation.
Alongside his artistic training, he studied acting, visual culture (DAMS), and neuroscience, informing his interest in perception, memory, and the limits of vision.
He has exhibited in Italy and internationally, with works held in private collections across Europe, the United States, and Asia.
Statement
My work investigates the instability of perception through painting.
Working between portraiture and vegetal imagery, I approach both as unstable presences rather than fixed subjects. Figures and flowers are treated as transient events—forms that emerge, disperse, and resist fixation.
The image is never fully resolved; it remains suspended between appearance and disappearance. Through gesture, dilution, and partial erasure, I construct a pictorial field in which vision becomes uncertain and cannot be fully stabilized.
Rather than representing subjects, my work focuses on the conditions through which images appear and dissolve. Painting becomes a site where the image is continuously formed and undone, existing only temporarily before shifting or fading.
Major solo and group exhibitions
-
2026
- Collective exhibition Premio Mestre di Pittura, Mestre.
- Collective exhibition South East, Tobian art gallery, Florence.
- Collective exhibition Oversize, palazzo Stella. Genova.
- Collective exhibition Visioni di donna, MIIT, Torino.
-
2025
- Solo exhibition 'Natura Viva', Ghiggini Gallery, Varese.
- Group exhibition 'Creative States', Crocetti Museum, Rome.
- 'Spring' collective exhibition, Tobian Art Gallery, Florence.
- 'Ritorno a palazzo' collective exhibition, Palazzo San Severino, Pavia.
- Cremona art fair with Galleria Ghiggini.
-
2024
- Artefiera Padova with Ghiggini Gallery.
- Collective exhibition Galleria Ghiggini, Varese.
- Solo exhibition "Guardami", Spazio Ramé, Trento.
- Solo exhibition 'Sogni di carta', Spazio Forno, Rome.
- Exhibition at the Biennale d'arte di Chianciano, Siena.
- Group exhibition, Premio Firenze at Palazzo Bastogi, Florence.
- Collective exhibition "100 artisti in villa" Villa Contarini, Padova.
- Collective exhibition at Palazzo Sanseverino, Pavia.
- Collective exhibition at NucleikArt gallery, Catania.
- Group exhibition Tobian Art Gallery. Florence
-
2023
- Group exhibition Ghiggini Gallery, Varese.
- Collective exhibition Premio Viviani, Villa Brivio, Nova Milanese.
- Collective exhibition at Galleria Il Leone, Roma.
- Collective exhibition at Galleria Vittoria, Roma.
- Collective exhibition at Studio d'Arte 99, Pavia.
-
2022
- Group exhibition SaturARTE Genova.
- Artefiera Genova with Satura Gallery.
-
2021
- Group exhibition Malamegi Lab.19 at Piazza di Pietra 28 Rome.
- Exhibition 'Hirdilak & Chris Cann' at Studio d'Arte 99, Pavia.
- Exhibition at the London Art Biennale.
- Exhibition at the Genoa Art Biennale.
- Online exhibition with artist Alessandra Guttagliere: 'L'Indomabile'.
-
2020
- Group exhibition Yicca 20/21 Milan.
- SaturARTE 2020 Group exhibition Genoa.
- Collective exhibition "Fortezza in arte", Fortezza Medicea di Montepulciano (Si).
-
2019
- Solo exhibition at Studio Bong gallery Florence.
- Group exhibition Royal Society of portrait painters, Mall galleries London.
- Group exhibition at Arthill gallery, London.
- Group exhibition "arte a palazzo fantuzzi" at Galleria Farini in Bologna.
-
2017
- Solo exhibition for Pistoia capitale della cultura at the former church of San Biagino.
Awards and recognitions
-
2026
- Publication in catalog Tobian art gallery for T. J. Watson library, MET New York
-
2025
- Master in neuroscience, mindfulness and contemplative practice, UniPi
- Solo exhibition award at the 'Ritorno a palazzo' art prize. Pavia.
- Honourable mention Mestre Prize.
- Honourable mention for potrait Teravarna, L.A. California.
- Honourable mention for flower Teravarna, L.A. California.
-
2024
- Honourable mention for figurative art at the Chianciano Biennial, (Si).
- Honourable mention for Premio Mestre.
- Start of collaboration with Tobian art Gallery. Florence.
- Publication in the magazine "Marlé".
-
2023
- Publication of photography book "Fotosintesi. 96 Polaroids of Spring".
- Signalling with merit for painting Florence Award.
- Signalling with merit Viviani Award, (MB)
- Signalling with merit Premio Mestre.
- Start of collaboration with Galleria Ghiggini, Varese.
-
2022
- Satura Award, SaturARTE Genova.
-
2021
- Award acquisition Malamegi lab.19. Rome.
- Emerging prize for painting at the Genoa Biennale.
- 2nd place at Yicca20/21 Art Award Milan.
-
2020
- Awarded artist at SaturARTE 2020 Genova.